Here’s how much the US housing market shifted last quarter
Most expensive market
$2,050,000
San Jose, CA — ▼ 4.2% YoY
No. 10 most expensive
$879,900
Los Angeles, CA — flat YoY
National median, Q2 2026
$434,900
▲ 1.5% year-over-year
Metro area Median price YoY
$2,050,000 ▼ 4.2%
$1,500,000 ▲ 5.2%
$1,485,000 ▲ 3.7%
$1,183,000 ▲ 3.0%
$1,075,000 ▲ 4.9%
$982,600 ▲ 0.4%
$961,800 ▲ 0.4%
$954,400 ▲ 2.8%
$885,100 ▲ 4.7%
$879,900 — 0.0%
▲ Year-over-year gain ▼ Year-over-year decline — Flat year-over-year
Source: NAR Q2 2026 Metropolitan Median Area Prices and Affordability Report. Bar lengths scaled to highest market. Metro names abbreviated; full names: San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine, Urban Honolulu, San Diego-Carlsbad, Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale.
First-time buyers carry the heaviest load
The affordability figures that matter most to brokers are those affecting entry-level buyers, and Q2 delivered little relief on that front.
The typical monthly mortgage payment on an existing single-family home, assuming a 20% down payment, reached $2,199 in Q2. That’s up $219 from the prior quarter, though still $52 below the year-ago level.
The average share of income that families devoted to mortgage payments climbed to 23.8%, up from 21.8% in Q1.
The strain is more pronounced among first-time buyers. A starter home priced at $369,700 with a 10% down payment carried a monthly payment of $2,158 — $214 more than the previous quarter. It consumed 35.9% of first-time buyer income, up from 32.9% in Q1 2026.
While that figure remains below the 38.4% recorded a year earlier, the quarter-over-quarter jump signals that the brief affordability window of late 2025 may be closing.
