Home Prices Rise 2.6% YoY Despite Expanding Inventory, Homes.com Finds

(Illustration: Rich Howard/pexels.com)

National home-price growth remained modest in July, according to Homes.com, Arlington, Va. More homes came onto the market, but local markets and individual property types varied from the national summary.

The firm’s July 2026 housing market report showed 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,” the report said.

Of course, housing market conditions 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,” Homes.com said.

The report also found differences 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.

Homes.com Chief Residential Economist Brad Case noted the 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. “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,” he said. “Buyers, too, showed a greater willingness to transact at higher mortgage rates.”