Price growth is no longer confined to the country’s priciest coastal markets. Abilene, Texas, and Cumberland, Maryland, posted bigger annual price gains last quarter than any metro on the housing industry’s official list of top movers.
Home prices increased in 80 percent of metro markets in the second quarter of 2026, up from 71 percent in the first quarter, according to a quarterly report from the National Association of Realtors. Five percent of metro areas recorded double-digit price gains, unchanged from the previous quarter.
The national median price for an existing single-family home rose 1.5 percent year-over-year to $434,900, the report said. That compares with 0.5 percent annual growth in the first quarter.
Total home sales rose 1.3 percent quarter-over-quarter and 2.3 percent year-over-year in the second quarter, according to NAR data. Sales increased in three of the four major regions. The South led with a 4.7 percent annual gain. The West rose 2.8 percent and the Midwest rose 1 percent. Sales in the Northeast fell 4.8 percent from a year earlier.
“Home sales increased despite mortgage rates rising. This testifies to the potential housing demand building up from steady job and income gains,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in the report.
Lawrence Yun at Inman On Tour Nashville | Credit: AJ Canaria Creative Services
“Sales rose in three of the four major regions, with the South leading the way due to faster job growth. The Northeast was the exception, held back partly by slower job growth and faster-appreciating home prices, which hurt affordability,” Yun said.
Yun said rising incomes have helped offset home price growth even as mortgage rates climb. “It is welcoming to see incomes rising faster than home prices, which has helped boost affordability — but the big short-term challenge to affordability is coming from rising mortgage rates,” he said.
Median existing single-family home price by region (year-over-year change)
- Northeast: $547,200 (+3.8 percent)
- Midwest: $340,800 (+3.6 percent)
- South: $380,000 (+1.0 percent)
- West: $637,900 (-0.8 percent)
10 large markets with the biggest year-over-year median price increases
- Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas (+11.0 percent)
- Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, Florida (+10.5 percent)
- Gulfport-Biloxi-Pascagoula, Mississippi (+10.3 percent)
- Syracuse, New York (+9.6 percent)
- Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, Connecticut (+8.0 percent)
- Lansing-East Lansing, Michigan (+7.8 percent)
- Canton-Massillon, Ohio (+7.7 percent)
- Providence-Warwick, Rhode Island-Massachusetts (+7.4 percent)
- York-Hanover, Pennsylvania (+7.4 percent)
- Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wisconsin (+6.8 percent)
10 most expensive markets (median sales price, with year-over-year price change)
- San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California ($2,050,000; -4.2 percent)
- San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, California ($1,500,000; +5.2 percent)
- Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine, California ($1,485,000; +3.7 percent)
- Urban Honolulu, Hawaii ($1,183,000; +3.0 percent)
- San Diego-Carlsbad, California ($1,075,000; +4.9 percent)
- Salinas, California ($982,600; +0.4 percent)
- Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, California ($961,800; +0.4 percent)
- San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, California ($954,400; +2.8 percent)
- Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Connecticut ($885,100; +4.7 percent)
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, California ($879,900; 0.0 percent)
Affordability
Twenty percent of markets experienced declining home prices, down from 27 percent last quarter and 24 percent a year earlier, according to the report. The monthly mortgage payment on a typical existing single-family home with a 20 percent down payment was $2,199, a $219 increase from the first quarter and a $52 decrease from a year ago.
Typical families spent an average of 23.8 percent of their income on mortgage payments, up from 21.8 percent last quarter but down from 25.5 percent a year earlier.
First-time buyers
The monthly mortgage payment for a typical starter home valued at $369,700, with a 10 percent down payment, was $2,158, a $214 increase from the first quarter and a $49 decrease from a year ago, the report said. First-time buyers spent an average of 35.9 percent of their income on monthly mortgage payments, up from 32.9 percent last quarter and down from 38.4 percent a year earlier.
NAR releases quarterly median single-family price data for approximately 235 metropolitan statistical areas. Regional median prices are drawn from a separate sample that includes rural areas and portions of smaller metros not included in the metro-area report, so regional percentage changes do not necessarily parallel changes in the larger metro areas.
