Home prices rose year-over-year in 80% of U.S. metro areas this spring, up sharply from 71% in the first quarter, according to a new quarterly report from the National Association of Realtors, covered by Realtor.com on Tuesday. The acceleration came even as mortgage rates climbed, a sign that pent-up demand from steady job and income growth is still pushing prices higher in most of the country.
The national median price for an existing single-family home rose 1.5% year-over-year to $434,900 in the second quarter, according to NAR’s Metropolitan Median Area Prices report, which tracks 235 markets. That is triple the 0.5% annual growth rate recorded in the first quarter. Five percent of the metros in the report posted double-digit annual price gains, the same share as the prior quarter.
“Home sales increased despite mortgage rates rising. This testifies to the potential housing demand building up from steady job and income gains,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said.
Northeast and Midwest lead, West is the outlier
The gains were concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest, the two regions NAR credited with driving the broader acceleration. The Northeast, where inventory remains the most constrained of the four regions, posted the sharpest annual increase, with its median price up 3.8% to $547,200. The Midwest followed closely, up 3.6% to $340,800.
The South continued to lag, with prices up just 1% year-over-year to $380,000. The West was the only region where prices fell, dropping 0.8% from a year earlier to $637,900, still the most expensive region in the country by a wide margin.
“Sales rose in three of the four major regions, with the South leading the way due to faster job growth. The Northeast was the exception, held back partly by slower job growth and faster-appreciating home prices, which hurt affordability,” Yun said.
Among individual metros, Beaumont, Texas, posted the largest annual price jump in the report at 11%. It was followed by Naples, Fla., up 10.5%; Gulfport, Miss., up 10.3%; Syracuse, N.Y., up 9.6%; and Hartford, Conn., up 8%. On the other end, 20% of the metros NAR tracks recorded outright price declines, an improvement from 27% in the first quarter and from 24% a year earlier.
Monthly payments ease from a quarter ago, but affordability strain persists
Despite the price gains, the typical monthly mortgage payment eased somewhat from the first quarter. The median payment on an existing single-family home purchased with a 20% down payment was $2,199 in the second quarter, down $219 from the first quarter and down $52 from a year earlier, per NAR’s calculations.
“It is welcoming to see incomes rising faster than home prices, which has helped boost affordability β but the big short-term challenge to affordability is coming from rising mortgage rates,” Yun said.
The typical family that bought a home last quarter spent 23.8% of its income on the mortgage payment, up from 21.8% in the first quarter but down from 25.5% a year ago, NAR found.
First-time buyers faced a steeper burden. Based on NAR’s assumption of a $369,700 starter-home price and a 10% down payment, the typical first-time buyer’s monthly payment was $2,158 in the second quarter, up $214 from the first quarter but down $49 from a year earlier. Those buyers spent 35.9% of their income on housing payments, up from 32.9% in the prior quarter and down from 38.4% a year ago.
What it means
The verified facts: price growth broadened across a much larger share of U.S. metros between the first and second quarters of 2026, even as mortgage payments for existing buyers eased slightly from Q1 levels. Yun’s interpretation β that steady job and income gains are sustaining demand despite higher rates β is his attributed analysis, not an independently verified causal finding.
What to watch: whether the Northeast’s affordability squeeze, flagged by Yun as a drag on that region’s home sales, spreads to other tightly supplied markets, and whether first-time buyers’ rising payment burden continues even as incomes climb. Related RealtyWire coverage has tracked price cuts climbing to 20% of listings in July and new-home prices cooling even as sales edge up, both signs of a market still working through affordability pressure even as median prices rise nationally.
