Home sale prices across the D.C. region grew at about half the national rate in the second quarter of 2026, but local home values remained well above the national average.
The D.C. metro area recorded a 0.9% increase in year-over-year median sales price in the April to June period, according to figures reported by the National Association of Realtors.
That compares to a 1.5% increase nationally, which saw the overall median sales price increase to $434,900.
Both locally and nationally, prices headed higher despite economic headwinds, said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun.
“Home sales increased despite mortgage rates rising. This testifies to the potential housing demand building up from steady job and income gains,” Yun said. “It is welcoming to see incomes rising faster than home prices, which has helped boost affordability — but the big short-term challenge to affordability is coming from rising mortgage rates.”
Prices were higher in three of four geographic areas of the nation:
- Northeast: $547,200 (+3.8%)
- Midwest: $340,800 (+3.6%)
- South: $380,000 (+1%)
- West: $637,900 (-0.8%)
The 10 most expensive metro areas in the nation for the second quarter were concentrated in California:
- San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif. ($2,050,000; -4.2%)
- San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, Calif. ($1,500,000; +5.2%)
- Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine, Calif. ($1,485,000; +3.7%)
- Urban Honolulu, Hawaii ($1,183,000; +3%)
- San Diego-Carlsbad, Calif. ($1,075,000; +4.9%)
- Salinas, Calif. ($982,600; +0.4%)
- Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, Calif. ($961,800; +0.4%)
- San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, Calif. ($954,400; +2.8%)
- Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Conn. ($885,100; +4.7%)
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif. ($879,900; unchanged)
On the other end of the spectrum, seven metro areas reported median sales prices under $200,000 for the second quarter, with Decatur, Ill. ($147,800) and Elmira, N.Y. ($176,800) as the most affordable jurisdictions.
They were followed by Youngstown, Ohio ($185,600); Peoria, Ill. ($189,900); Cumberland, Md. ($192,800); Davenport, Iowa ($196,600); and Anniston, Ala. ($197,100).
Newly released data for July paints a complex picture of the overall market.
The national median list price was $428,950 in July, essentially unchanged from June but down 2.4% from a year ago, the ninth consecutive month of annual price declines, Realtor.com reported on Aug. 3.
“July’s data show a market that is cooling seasonally, not coming apart,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist for Realtor.com, adding:
“Sellers are making more price adjustments as summer progresses, and buyers are responding more selectively, but homes are still going under contract at a faster pace than last year. The key question for the months ahead is whether price reductions help sustain buyer engagement or signal that sellers are getting ahead of softer demand.”
Sellers reduced prices on 20% of active listings in July, up 1.2 percentage points from June but down 0.6 percentage points from a year earlier.
The median home spent 57 days on the market in July based on Realtor.com data, four days longer than in June but one day less than a year ago — the first outright annual decline after 26 consecutive months in which homes took longer to sell than the year before.
In a separate analysis of July data, Zillow chief economist Mischa Fisher called it “a strong month for existing home sales, but unfortunately it may represent the peak of what we can expect for the rest of the year.”
“Closed sales in July mostly reflect offers accepted in June, when underlying pent-up demand for housing, combined with an improving rate environment, drove strong activity,” Fisher said. “Unfortunately, the weak growth in newly pending sales in July and the worsening rate environment portend a weaker half of the year for sales growth, with flat to declining transaction volumes for the remainder of the year in some regions.”
Zillow pegged the typical national home value at $371,757 in July — up 1.1% from a year ago — with the D.C. region’s typical value reported at $581,129.
