Dive Brief:

• Realtor.com released its rankings Thursday of the 20 hottest real estate markets for June. California still dominates the list, with Vallejo, CA, at No. 1 once again, but Michigan has three cities on the list as well, largely due to the vacation home market.
• Record-high prices continued in June, and homes sold 2% faster than last year, with the "hottest" activity occurring in secondary markets and the perennially prime markets holding steady and, in some cases, slightly slowing.
• Homes in more than 30% of select mid-size to large markets sold faster than last month, but month-over-month, the national median age of inventory remained the same at 65 days, which was 2% less than June 2015.

Dive Insight

The median home price for June was $252,000, a month-over-month increase of 1% and a jump of 8% from last year. Even though the sting of higher price tags was mitigated somewhat by lower mortgage rates, Realtor.com Chief Economist Jonathan Smoke said pent-up demand from last year and low inventory continue to push those prices higher. He also reported that despite a 3% increase in June listings from May, inventory was still 5% lower than June 2015 and wasn't enough to meet demand.

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

According to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller national Home Price Index, U.S. home prices increased 5.2% from March 2015 to March 2106. This figure was higher than expected and signaled that while the housing recovery continues to pick up steam, low inventory still plays a significant role.

Homebuilders have said that one of the reasons homes are in such short supply is the fact that regulatory fees keep piling onto the cost of building, pushing home prices up and making the prospect of building more starter homes less attractive. According to the National Association of Home Builders, federal, state and local regulations have driven up the price of a home by almost 25%.

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

1. Vallejo, CA
2. San Francisco
3. Dallas
4. Stockton, CA
5. San Diego
6. Santa Rosa, CA
7. Denver
8. Sacramento, CA
9. Modesto, CA
10. Fort Wayne, IN
11. Columbus, OH
12. Detroit
13. San Jose, CA
14. Kennewick, WA
15. Santa Cruz, CA
16. Eureka, CA
17. Ann Arbor, MI
18. Grand Rapids, MI
19. Boston
20. Los Angeles