Dive Brief:

• Realtor.com released its rankings Thursday of the 20 hottest real estate markets for August, and California still dominates the list. Similar to its findings in July, the real estate site said the pace of this month's sales were the fastest the market has seen in a decade.
• Year over year, homes are selling 2% faster than in August 2015, however, the median home price edged down $1,000 from July to $250,000. However, that figure is still 8% higher than it was a year ago.
• The top seven cities on Realtor.com's August list were the same as they were in July, although there was a minor reshuffling between San Diego, CA and Columbus, OH. The Texas town of Waco was a new entry, however, as was Kennewick, WA, located in the Southeastern part of the state. Detroit also made some headway in August, moving up four places on the list to join the 10 hottest locales.

Dive Insight

Realtor.com determines its "hot" list by studying the markets where properties are selling the fastest (median days on market) and where demand is strongest (listing views). 

The Commerce Department reported this week that new single-family home sales rose 12.4% in July, up 31.3% from a year ago and far exceeding expert predictions. Although the median sales price fell from $306,700 to $294,600, sales were the fastest since October 2007. The Northeast region of the country was the clear July winner with a sales increase of 40%.

The news wasn't as great for the July existing home market, however, as sales decreased 3.2% month over month. According to the National Association of Realtors, July (-1.6%) was just the second time in two years that year-over-year sales fell. However, the median price for existing homes in July was up 5.3% from July 2015 to $244,100, the 53rd straight month of year-over-year increases.

Realtor.com's full list of the 20 hottest August markets includes:

1. Vallejo, CA
2. Dallas
3. Denver
4. San Francisco
5. Stockton, CA
6. Columbus, OH
7. San Diego, CA
8. Waco, TX
9. Detroit
10. Sacramento, CA
11. Fort Wayne, IN
12. Yuba City, CA
13. Modesto, CA
14. San Jose, CA
15. Fresno, CA
16. Colorado Springs, CO
17. Santa Cruz, CA
18. Kennewick, WA
19. Santa Rosa, CA
20. Nashville