MAP SHOWS WHERE HOUSE PRICES EXPECTED TO RISE ACROSS US
Housing affordability will modestly improve across the country this year, but this small relief would hardly be noticeable in the Northeast, according to experts’ predictions for 2026.
A vast majority of the markets expected to experience the biggest home price growth in the country this year are in this region, which is still affected by acute shortages of homes on the market.
Why It Matters
The U.S. housing market is still in the midst of an affordability crisis after median single-family home prices surged by nearly 50 percent between 2019 and 2024, according to data from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.
Despite a significant slowdown in home price growth last year due to dwindling demand and a piling up of unsold inventory on the market, prices are still rising year nationwide year over year. As of November, according to Redfin, the median sale price of a typical U.S. home was $433,261, up 0.7 percent from a year earlier.
What To Know
According to Realtor.com’s forecast, home prices will rise modestly by 2.2 percent through 2026. But because inflation is expected to outpace these gains, with consumer prices increasing more than 3 percent, inflation-adjusted home prices will actually decline slightly for a second consecutive year.
In its own forecast for the year, Redfin comes to a similar conclusion, expecting “the median U.S. home-sale price to rise about 1 percent in 2026, essentially flat after adjusting for inflation,” chief economist Daryl Fairweather told Newsweek.
“Some overheated markets may see declines, but tight supply and strong homeowner equity should prevent a broad price drop,” she said.
That is because the U.S. housing market will continue being regionally fractured, experts say.
“Relatively affordable markets in the Midwest, Great Lakes region, and areas near New York City are poised to heat up, while parts of Texas and coastal Florida may cool,” Fairweather said. “Housing outcomes will increasingly depend on local affordability, insurance costs, and job dynamics.”
Markets in the Northeast and Midwest are likely to see the biggest home price increases this year because they have remained popular among buyers despite low inventory.
Hannah Jones, senior economic research analyst at Realtor.com, told CNBC Make It that “the Midwest and Northeast have maintained strong demand despite the broader slowdown, largely due to persistent inventory scarcity.”
This scarcity is propping prices up, while higher inventory levels in states like Florida and Texas are pushing them down in those local markets.
These are the 11 metropolitan areas where Realtor.com experts expects to see the biggest home price increases this year:
1, Toledo, Ohio
- Expected 2026 price growth: 13.1 percent
- Median home price: $199,900
2, Syracuse, New York
- Expected 2026 price growth: 12.4 percent
- Median home price: $298,950
3, Scranton—Wilkes-Barre—Hazleton, Pennsylvania
- Expected 2026 price growth: 10.9 percent
- Median home price: $260,000
4, Rochester, New York
- Expected 2026 price growth: 10.3 percent
- Median home price: $256,900
5, Hartford—West Hartford—East Hartford, Connecticut
- Expected 2026 price growth: 9.5 percent
- Median home price: $429,000
6, Baltimore—Columbia—Towson, Maryland
- Expected 2026 price growth: 8.3 percent
- Median home price: $375,000
7, New Haven—Milford, Connecticut
- Expected 2026 price growth: 7.7 percent
- Median home price: $439,000
8, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
- Expected 2026 price growth: 7.7 percent
- Median home price: $342,899
9, Albany—Schenectady—Troy, New York
- Expected 2026 price growth: 7.5 percent
- Median home price: $419,900
10, Columbia, South Carolina
- Expected 2026 price growth: 7.2 percent
- Median home price: $303,300
11, Milwaukee—Waukesha—West Allis, Wisconsin
- Expected 2026 price growth: 7 percent
- Median home price: $379,000
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2026-01-11T17:33:20Z
