Northeast and Midwest housing markets are the tightest heading into summer 2026

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s Resi Club in your inbox? Subscribe to the Resi Club newsletter. Many of the softest housing markets, where homebuyers have gained the most leverage over the past four years since the pandemic housing boom ended, are located in Southern and Mountain West regions. Many of those areas were home to the nation’s top pandemic boomtowns, which experienced significant home price growth during the pandemic housing boom, stretching housing prices beyond local income levels. Once pandemic-fueled domestic migration slowed and mortgage rates spiked, markets like Punta Gorda, Florida, and Austin faced challenges as they had to rely on local incomes to sustain frothy home prices. The housing market softening in these areas was further accelerated by the abundance of new home supply in the pipeline across the Sunbelt. When and where needed, builders are often willing to reduce prices or make other affordability adjustments to maintain sales. These adjustments in the new-construction market also create a cooling effect on the resale market, as some buyers who might have opted for an existing home shift their focus to new homes where deals are available. In contrast, many Northeast and Midwest markets were less reliant on pandemic domestic migration and have less new-home construction in progress. With lower exposure to that migration pullback demand shock—and fewer homebuilders doing large incentives—active inventory in these Midwest and Northeast regions has remained relatively tight. That’s still the case entering the 2026 summer housing market. window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}); Generally speaking, housing markets where inventory (i.e., active listings) has returned to pre-pa