New homes under construction in Grandview Heights — Photo by Walker Evans.

Columbus is both literally and figuratively hot right now. The heat index has been pushed into the triple digits this week, and the housing market was just rated the #2 hot spot in the country according to Realtor.com.

“This is really the same story we have had the last few years — there’s not enough housing stock for sale on the active market,” explains local realtor Joe Peffer, owner of Delicious Real Estate. “Would-be sellers don’t want to turn around and become buyers because of the difficulties they keep hearing about. Their homes don’t come online — with many opting instead to stay put and commence rehabs or additions — often by tapping their new-found home equity.”

According to research from Realtor.com, the average property in the Columbus region sits on the market available for 31.5 days, compared to the U.S. average of 54 days. Peffer says that the median for just Franklin County is six days.

“The ‘flip’ inventory is three times more expensive than it would have been two years ago but investors are still paying the prices to have something to renovate and sell because the prices on the sell side continue to be attractive,” he adds.

Some of the hottest individual zip codes in Central Ohio include 43085 (Worthington), 43235 (Northwest Columbus) and 43230 (Gahanna). Click here to view the full top 20 list of hot zip codes in the region. As far as deal seeking goes, Peffer says that the hot market has penetrated nearly every neighborhood at this point.

“There are no secret neighborhoods as the tight market has stretched buyers awareness of where affordable neighborhoods might be,” says Peffer. “Affordable first-time home-buyer communities like North Linden, Vasser Village and Forest Park all have the same multiple offer scenarios seen in the most popular well-known downtown neighborhoods.”

Other U.S. cities including in the current Top 10 batch of hot housing markets are Midland (Texas), Boston, Fort Wayne, Boise City, San Francisco, Vallejo (California), Buffalo, Colorado Springs and Detroit.

For more information, visit www.realtor.com/research/reports/hottest-markets/.