In Charleston-North Charleston, South Carolina, the median newly built home lists for $443,273. That’s 12.2 percent below the $504,832 median for an existing home in the same metro.
That gap is the widest of any market in Realtor.com’s second annual Top Metros for New Construction ranking. It’s also enough to put Charleston at No. 1 among the 100 largest U.S. metros, with an overall score of 84.7 out of 100.
The ranking evaluates markets across four weighted measures: new-construction share of listings, the price premium (or discount) new homes carry against existing inventory, climate risk relative to existing homes, and market “hotness” based on page views and days on market. Listing data covers January through June of 2026.
The headline finding isn’t really about any single metro. It’s about geography. Eight of the top 10 markets are in the South, and six of those are split between North and South Carolina alone.
Greenville-Anderson-Greer, South Carolina, ranked second. Boise City, Idaho, was the highest-ranked market outside the region, in third place.
Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tennessee, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, rounded out the Southern cluster in the top 10. Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, North Carolina-South Carolina, was the largest metro to make the cut at No. 4.
Zoning, not just supply, is driving the price gap
Joel Berner, senior economist at Realtor.com, tied the pattern to local regulatory conditions rather than simple building volume.
“New construction is one of the most important ways to expand the supply of homes available to buyers, but the opportunity is not evenly distributed across the country,” Berner said. “This year’s ranking shows that Southern metros are not only building more homes; they are also creating conditions where buyers can find newly built homes at prices that compete with, and in some cases beat, existing homes.”
More permissive zoning, lighter building codes and cheaper land are keeping new-construction prices competitive with or below resale prices in these markets, according to the report.
That distinction matters for real estate agents advising buyers on the build-vs-buy decision.
A market can have a high new-construction share of listings without much of a price advantage. Boise’s new-build share runs 53.4 percent, the highest in the top 10, but its price premium is a comparatively modest 4.5 percent discount.
Charleston, by contrast, has a lower new-construction share, at 24.8 percent, but the steepest discount on the list. The two metrics aren’t tracking the same thing, and conflating them risks overselling a market’s affordability story.
College towns dominate
None of the top 10 metros ranks among the 50 largest in the country by household count. Charlotte, the biggest of the group, is the 20th-largest U.S. metro. Nashville is 35th.
Realtor.com also flagged that nearly every top-10 market is anchored by a major research university. This ties sustained housing demand to local employment and talent pipelines, not migration alone.
Madison, Wisconsin, was the outlier as the only Midwestern metro to crack the top 10, and the one with the most new-construction buyer interest by a wide margin.
Page views per new-construction listing there ran 108.4 percent above the national average. That was more than 10 times the interest level of some of the Southern markets on the list. Boise, Idaho, was the sole Western metro in the top 10, and no Northeast markets made the cut.
Price isn’t the only thing that scores points
Not every top-10 market is actually cheaper to build in.
New construction in Chattanooga, Tennessee, carries a 10.1 percent premium over existing homes. Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and Madison, Wisconsin, run premiums above 9 percent.
Those metros still scored well overall because of strong new-construction share, favorable climate-risk profiles or high buyer interest. It’s a reminder that Realtor.com’s composite score rewards balance across all four categories, not just price.
Where the runners-up fell short
Several markets that outperformed on individual metrics didn’t crack the top 10 because they lagged elsewhere.
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, Texas, posted an 8.1 percent new-construction discount, but its page views per listing ran 48.1 percent below the national average, dragging down its hotness score.
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, Texas, fared similarly, with a 9.3 percent premium and page views 68.4 percent below average, keeping it in honorable-mention territory.
Portland, Maine, had the most extreme mismatch on the list, with page views 359.5 percent above the national average, by far the highest of any market in the report, but only a 14.4 percent new-construction share and a 15.2 percent premium.
What this means for agents working with new-construction buyers
For real estate agents in Southern markets outside the Carolinas, the ranking is a data point worth raising directly with builders.
If neighboring metros are hitting double-digit discounts through zoning and land-cost advantages, that’s leverage in negotiating price and incentives on new inventory.
For agents in tighter-supply markets like Portland, Maine, or Houston, the takeaway cuts the other way. High buyer interest in new construction isn’t translating into price relief, which keeps existing homes competitive by comparison.
