US median home price hits record $408,800

The median home price in the United States reached a record $408,800 in March 2026, according to the National Association of Realtors, even as overall price growth continued to slow compared to the sharp increases of 2021 and 2022. The Federal Housing Finance Agency separately reported prices up just 1.6% year-over-year from January 2025 to January 2026, underscoring a market that was cooling in pace even as it kept setting new dollar records.

A report earlier that same quarter revealed that the share of US homeowners with mortgages above 6% had, for the first time, exceeded the share with mortgages below 3%, a shift that in theory should have loosened the so-called lock-in effect keeping longtime homeowners from listing their properties. Rates had also briefly dipped at the start of the year, though the anticipated boost to housing inventory had yet to fully materialize by March.