Home Prices Rose in 78 Percent of Metro Areas in the Third Quarter: The National Median Hit $432,900, and the West Was the Only Region to Fall
Home prices rose in 78 percent of the roughly 235 metro markets tracked by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) in the third quarter of 2026, down slightly from 80 percent in the second quarter, the association reported on October 29. Four percent of metro areas recorded double-digit price gains. The national median single-family existing-home price rose 1.7 percent from a year earlier to $432,900, matching the revised annual growth rate of the second quarter.
The regions moved in different directions. The Northeast posted the highest median at $561,500, up 4.0 percent; the Midwest came in at $342,500, up 3.6 percent; the South reached $374,900, up 1.0 percent; and the West, still the most expensive region at $629,000, was the only one to fall, down 0.6 percent from a year earlier. The most expensive metro market was San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California, at $1,920,000, followed by Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine at $1,470,000 and San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward at $1,350,900, with California metros taking eight of the ten most expensive spots. The largest gain was in Gulfport-Biloxi-Pascagoula, Mississippi, up 11.0 percent.
Affordability kept tightening. The monthly mortgage payment on a typical existing single-family home with 20 percent down was $2,251, up $48 from the previous quarter and $69 from a year earlier, and typical families spent 24.1 percent of their income on mortgage payments. A first-time buyer purchasing a typical starter home valued at $368,000 with 10 percent down faced a monthly payment of $2,208, or 36.3 percent of income.
NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said that even with affordability challenges causing the housing market to stagnate, home prices continue to set record highs in most parts of the country, and that over the past seven years the average house has appreciated by $146,000. He noted that Florida markets, many of which declined over the past year, showed price gains in nearly all of the state's metros this quarter, and that many Midwest markets offer more attainable homeownership. (Source: National Association of Realtors)
Source: National Association of Realtors
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: Wikimedia Commons 摄影，CC BY-SA 2.0：美国郊区独栋住宅社区航拍
