03/24/2026
MARKET UPDATE:
January 2026: New Home Sales Started The Year At The Lowest Level Since October 2022
There were 587,000 (SAAR) new single-family home sales nationwide in January. That’s 17.6% below the revised December rate of 712,000. Sales of newly built homes were 11.3% below the January 2025 estimate, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The median price of new houses sold was $400,500, down 6.8% from a year ago.
The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of January was 476,000, a supply of 9.7 months at the current sales rate. This is higher than the 8 months in December and higher than the 9 months in January 2025.
An Expanding Supply of Rentals Keeps Rent Growth in Check (February Rental Report)
The year-over-year increase in the typical U.S. asking rent eased to 1.9% in February, according to the Zillow Observed Rent Index.
Nearly 40% of rental listings on Zillow offered concessions, such as free rent or waived fees, in February.
While affordability is improving, a household needs to earn about $76,000 a year to afford the typical rent — nearly $20,000 more than before the pandemic.
Homes Listed in Late May Sell for $6,000 More
Homes listed in the last two weeks of May sold for 1.7% more nationwide, or about $6,000 on a typical U.S. home.
