Kevin Sears President | Official website
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has released its list of the top 10 homebuying hot spots for 2026, based on a range of economic, demographic, and housing indicators. The findings were presented by NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun during the organization's seventh annual Real Estate Forecast Summit.
The selected markets are Charleston (South Carolina), Charlotte (North Carolina–South Carolina), Columbus (Ohio), Indianapolis (Indiana), Jacksonville (Florida), Minneapolis–St. Paul (Minnesota–Wisconsin), Raleigh (North Carolina), Richmond (Virginia), Salt Lake City (Utah), and Spokane (Washington). Each market was chosen for outperforming national averages in at least five out of ten key factors and for having populations above 250,000.
"Lower mortgage rates and larger inventory will attract buyers back to the market in 2026," said Lawrence Yun. "The top 10 housing hot spots for 2026 have a combination of strong demand potential, projected improvements in affordability, and, most critically, a housing stock that matches the budgets of the buyers who are returning to the market."
Nationally, NAR forecasts existing-home sales will rise by 14% in 2026. Home prices are expected to increase by about 4%, while mortgage rates are projected to fall toward 6%. Job growth is anticipated to be moderate with approximately 1.3 million new jobs added.
"After three years of flat home sales, a solid double-digit percentage increase is expected in 2026," Yun said. "In 2026, we expect higher inventory, modest improvements in affordability, and more accommodating monetary policy from the Federal Reserve will help more Americans buy their next home."
To identify these markets, NAR analyzed how each area performed compared to national levels across ten factors: share of millennial households, household income growth, job growth, impact of lower mortgage rates, domestic migration as a share of population, share of sales with price cuts, listings-to-income alignment score and its year-over-year change, mortgage payment versus rent ratio, single-family permits growth, and mortgage originations growth.
NAR is engaged in all aspects of residential and commercial real estate. REALTORS are members who adhere to its Code of Ethics. Consumer guides on buying or selling homes can be found at facts.realtor.
