April 2026 Housing Market Report: Where Home Prices Fell, Where Sellers Cut, and Who Could Afford to Buy

The typical U.S. home rose 0.6% over the year to $368,647 in April, according to the home value index, and is up 27.7% over five years. A 20%-down mortgage on that home cost $1,832 a month in principal and interest and took about $97,372 of household income. Typical rent was $1,922, up 1.9% in a year. 22.1% of listings cut their price during the month, homes went pending in 60 days, and 1.22M homes were for sale, up 4.5% from a year earlier.

Underneath that average, the 50 states moved in different directions. Values were falling in 12 states and rising in 38; 31 states were at an all-time high while Arizona sat 8.8% below its July 2022 peak of $462,506. This report reads the state-level files for April 2026 as published, with no modeling and no forecasts.

The steepest year-over-year declines were in Florida (-3.7%), Colorado (-2.4%), Texas (-2.0%), Nevada (-2.0%), and Arizona (-1.6%). Florida's typical home stood at $376,907, 6.8% below its May 2024 peak of $404,529. At the other end, North Dakota (+5.5%), Wisconsin (+5.4%), and New York (+5.0%) posted the fastest gains.

By region, the West carried the highest median state value at $478K and the South the lowest at $272K. The West was down 0.6% on the median state, with values falling in 7 of its 13 states, the Northeast was up 2.4% on the median state, with values falling in 0 of its 11 states, the Midwest was up 3.7% on the median state, with values falling in 0 of its 12 states, and the South was up 0.7% on the median state, with values falling in 5 of its 14 states.

Price cuts are the earliest sign that a market is turning. Arizona (30.9%), Tennessee (26.8%), Utah (26.1%), Florida (25.2%), and South Carolina (25.2%) had the largest share of listings with a reduced price, all above the national 22.1%. The fewest cuts were in New York (12.1%), Wisconsin (12.5%), and Connecticut (13.0%).

Combining price cuts with days to pending and the change in homes for sale, 8 states were cold, buyer's markets (Nevada, Arizona, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, Texas, and Oklahoma) and 2 were hot, seller's markets (Rhode Island and Alaska). Florida had the slowest sales at 92 days to pending; Connecticut the fastest at 29.

The income-needed figure assumes 20% down at that month's rates and a payment of no more than 30% of income. Set against each state's median household income from the Census Bureau, the typical household could afford the typical home in 13 of 50 states: West Virginia, Iowa, Mississippi, Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Arkansas, Ohio, Kansas, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Michigan, and Missouri. The widest gaps were in Hawaii (needed $196K, median earns $101K), California (needed $192K, median earns $100K), and Massachusetts (needed $172K, median earns $105K).

Renting was cheaper than a mortgage payment in 36 of the 50 largest metros, one per state. The widest gap in favor of renting was Los Angeles (California) at $1,824 a month; buying won most clearly in Charleston (West Virginia), where the payment was $457 below rent. Both comparisons leave out property tax, insurance and maintenance.

Every housing figure is Zillow Research's published number for April 2026: the home value index (typical value of homes in the middle third of a market, not a median sale price), the rent index for each state's largest metro, the mortgage payment and income-needed series, and the inventory, price-cut and days-to-pending metrics. Sale and list prices are the latest available at the time, which can lag a month. Median household income is from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey and does not change month to month. The current 50-state table, map and a page for every state are on the housing hub.