The last several years have been tough for homebuyers and sellers alike, with mortgage rates and housing prices in flux. But according to real estate marketplace Zillow, 2026 is looking up, with buyers seeing more availability and sellers seeing the rewards of price stability and more consistent demand.
In January, Zillow released a report on which of the 50 largest U.S. metros will be the most buyer-friendly housing markets in 2026. To rank the markets, Zillow’s index incorporated three themes:
One thing the top markets have in common: They are all located in the Midwest and the Sun Belt, Kara Ng, a senior economist at Zillow, tells CNBC Make It. The Sun Belt includes states across the southern U.S., such as Florida, Texas, California, Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina.
“A huge component of buyer friendliness is affordability,” Ng says. ”[The Midwest] was affordable before the pandemic and it is affordable after the pandemic.”
Although prices rose in the Sun Belt during the pandemic because the region is friendly to developers, builders have since come in and created more inventory to accommodate the demand, Ng says.
