National home-price growth remained modest in July, even as more homes came onto the market, but local markets and individual property types continued to vary from the national summary.
Homes.com, a CoStar Group leading online residential marketplace, released its July 2026 housing market report, showing the national median sale price at $400,000, up 2.6% from July 2025. Home sales increased 2.9% year over year, while homes for sale rose 4.4% from a year earlier. Taken together, those figures point to a housing market that has remained firmer than many observers expected given the increase in mortgage rates during the spring and summer.
Market conditions vary across major metros and housing types
Even with relatively steady national trends, housing market conditions continued to differ across major metropolitan areas. Several large markets posted stronger home-price growth, including Chicago, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and New York, while prices were softer in markets such as Raleigh, Seattle, Dallas-Fort Worth, and San Jose. These differences underscore the increasingly important roles that local supply and demand play in shaping market outcomes.
Differences were also evident across housing types. Nationally, single-family home prices increased 2.5% from a year earlier, compared with gains of 2.3% for condos and 0.8% for townhomes. Inventory growth was strongest among townhomes, while single-family homes and condos experienced more moderate increases in homes for sale.
“July’s data show that home prices have continued to hold up despite conditions that many observers would have expected to place more downward pressure on the market,” said Brad Case, Homes.com Chief Residential Economist. “Mortgage rates rose substantially between late February and late July, but the mortgage lock-in effect appears to be easing, and more owners have been willing to put their homes on the market. Buyers, too, showed a greater willingness to transact at higher mortgage rates.”
Overall, July reflected a housing market characterized by modest national price growth, expanding inventory, and sales activity that remained above year-earlier levels. While local markets and housing types followed different paths, national home prices continued to show surprising durability in the face of a less favorable interest-rate environment and a larger supply of homes for sale.
Additional market insights and reports are available at https://www.homes.com/reports/.
