Top metros for new construction hold ground despite sector headwinds

In a largely stagnant U.S. housing market, consistently slow new-home sales have begotten a consistently slow pace of new-home construction for the past two years.

But as high financing costs, slow buyer demand and margin pressure on home builders have persisted, top markets for newly built homes have also remained constant.

Updated rankings published Monday by Realtor.com indicate that half of 2026’s top 10 metro markets for new construction also made the top 10 list in 2025, underscoring what the listing platform called the “staying power” of these high-flyers.

“These metros are young, vibrant and growing,” said Monday’s report, while highlighting how almost every metro on the list possesses a “major research university or flagship school that is woven directly into its economy and identity.”

Only two metros on the top 10 list ranked among the 50 largest U.S. cities — Charlotte, N.C., and Nashville, Tenn. — further highlighting the opportunity that smaller, regional hubs represent for adding much-needed inventory.

Eight of the top 10 metros for new construction were located in the South, underscoring the enduring outperformance of Southern locales where land development is cheaper, regulations are looser and builders are active year-round. In fact, eight of the top 10 metros were in North or South Carolina alone.

Realtor.com compiles its list based on a weighted measure of new-home availability, new-home pricing relative to existing homes, page views, resilience to extreme weather like floods and wildfires, and how long new homes sit on the market before selling.

“We know that in terms of the volume of new construction, the South leads the way, but this analysis proves that Southern metros also perform well in terms of pricing, sustainability and new construction demand,” the report concluded.

The Carolinas and Boise show strength

The South Carolina cities of Charleston and Greenville took the top spots for 2026, with new construction accounting for about one-quarter and one-third of respective for-sale listings in those markets. New construction as a share of total listings exceeded 25% among all of the top 10 markets, and exceeded one-third of listings in four.

New builds in Charleston and Greenville were also priced approximately 12% and 1.6% lower than existing homes in the markets, signaling that affordability-minded buyers could focus on the new-home segment for a deal in those metros.

In Boise, Idaho — ranked third on the list — new builds were less pricey than existing homes by about 4.5%, with new homes accounting for more than half of all listings in the city of Buster Bronco and Boise State University.

At a relatively high margin of 6.1%, Boise’s climate score relative to existing homes prevented it from sealing the first or second position on the list, with Realtor.com flagging heavy concentration of new construction on the western side of the city abutting wilderness areas.

“Though these locations allow for lower listing prices on new builds, they tend to present higher climate risks than the locations of existing homes,” said the report, “especially related to wildfires.”

Newly built homes have historically cost more than existing homes, but pandemic-fueled market distortions have flipped the script in recent years. Traditional pricing dynamics were in place for most of the top 10 list, however.

Charlotte and Nashville rounded out the top five, where new homes were typically more expensive than existing homes by a margin of approximately 5%. Chattanooga, Tenn., and Winston-Salem, N.C., placed sixth and seventh on the list, with each seeing new-home pricing premiums of 10%. Madison, Wis., followed at No. 8, posting a new-home premium of 12.5%.

Durham, N.C., and Columbia, S.C., rounded out the list, with new homes more expensive in Durham but less expensive in Columbia.

Compared to a median time on market of 29 days in July for existing-home sales, according to the National Association of Realtors, new homes across Realtor.com’s top 10 list were on the market for an average of 60 days and a median of 62.5 days.

The shortest time on market was in Columbia, at 45 days, and the longest was in Madison at 70 days. Like Boise, Columbia also had a higher climate risk score — at 7.1% compared to existing homes — due to wildfire risks. New builds had a median price of $298,004 in Columbia, the most affordable metro on the list.