Sometimes, it feels like all housing market news is bad news. Mortgage rates are up, and they don’t show signs of falling. Home affordability is an ongoing issue. It takes years to save for a down payment.
So, as someone who reports on mortgages and real estate, it feels like a breath of fresh air when I read good news about the housing market. And the real estate listing website Realtor.com has blessed us with some positive data.
The Realtor.com April 2026 Monthly Housing Report revealed that even though Americans have faced economic difficulties — high inflation, soaring gas prices, volatile mortgage rates — the spring real estate market has held its own.
In fact, there was plenty of positive data about the April housing market that will hopefully set homebuyers up for a fruitful May.
Realtor.com shows that home prices are down, inventory is up
Realtor.com data show that monthly housing prices increased by 2.3% in April, with the median home price hitting $425,000. However, this move upward reflected trends from years past, so it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.
Year-over-year housing prices decreased by 1.4%. This was the sixth consecutive month of declines, and annual home prices have held steady or fallen for the past nine months.
The company noted that year-over-year home prices decreased in all four major U.S. regions, most notably in the South, where costs dropped by 3.4%. The median price per square foot was down in 35 of the 50 largest metro areas.
Related: Freddie Mac reveals shifting mortgage rate trends
Active listings increased by 4% from March to April; annually, they grew by 4.6%. New listings were also up, both monthly and annually.
More listings is a good sign for homebuyers, because increased supply leads to less competition. This helps keep asking prices lower, and you hopefully won’t have to offer above asking price or get into a bidding war for your offer to be accepted.
How mortgage rates affected the April housing market
According to Freddie Mac data, mortgage rates had increased for five straight weeks at the beginning of April. The national average 30-year fixed mortgage rate hit 6.46% on April 2 — its highest point in seven months.
However, mortgage rates fell for a few weeks in April due to the ceasefire in Iran and hopes that the war would end. (Mortgage rates increased on April 30, but since that was the last day of the month, it would have little to no effect on Realtor.com’s April housing report.)
More on mortgages and the housing market:
- How April Fed meeting impacts mortgage rates, housing market
- National Association of Realtors reveals problem with housing market, affordability
- Dave Ramsey’s controversial message about home affordability
The study points out that despite the volatility, the 30-year fixed rate ended the month much lower than it was the last two Aprils. It was 6.81% in the last week of April 2025 and 7.17% in 2024.
As mortgage rates increased in March, mortgage purchase applications declined, but they bounced back in April. “Between that and the continued rise in new listings, it looks as if buyers are relatively unfazed by the volatility,” Realtor.com senior economist Jake Krimmel wrote in the report.
What homebuyers and sellers should look out for in May
April is behind us, but it has set us up for the May housing market. Here’s what the Realtor.com report says we should keep an eye on this May:
- Will new listings keep up their momentum? New listings have picked up overall, especially in the Northeast and Midwest. This is crucial, because these regions have suffered from low inventory.
- If new listings continue to increase in areas with low inventory, it could lead to a healthier housing market. Buyers would have more options, and less competition could result in lower home prices.
- Listing prices are down, but we should pay attention to whether those actually lead to more pending sales. That would signal that sellers are pricing their homes appropriately — rather than listing them for too much initially and cutting the price later — and that it’s paying off with people making offers.
Source: Realtor.com April 2026 Monthly Housing Report
