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

The typical U.S. home rose 1.0% over the year to $368,250 in July, according to the home value index, and is up 21.5% over five years. A 20%-down mortgage on that home cost $1,870 a month in principal and interest and took about $98,917 of household income. Typical rent was $1,944, up 2.3% in a year. 25.6% of listings cut their price during the month, homes went pending in 51 days, and 1.39M homes were for sale, up 1.3% from a year earlier.

Underneath that average, the 50 states moved in different directions. Values were falling in 9 states and rising in 38; 27 states were at an all-time high while Arizona sat 9.5% below its July 2022 peak of $462,506. This report reads the state-level files for July 2026 as published, with no modeling and no forecasts.

The steepest year-over-year declines were in Florida (-2.2%), Nevada (-2.0%), Texas (-1.8%), Colorado (-1.7%), and Arizona (-1.4%). Florida's typical home stood at $375,277, 7.2% below its May 2024 peak of $404,529. At the other end, Alaska (+5.9%), New York (+5.3%), and North Dakota (+5.3%) posted the fastest gains.

By region, the West carried the highest median state value at $477K and the South the lowest at $270K. The West was up 0.5% on the median state, with values falling in 5 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 3.6% on the median state, with values falling in 0 of its 12 states, and the South was up 1.2% on the median state, with values falling in 4 of its 14 states.

Price cuts are the earliest sign that a market is turning. Colorado (31.1%), Tennessee (31.0%), Utah (30.7%), Arizona (30.1%), and Washington (30.0%) had the largest share of listings with a reduced price, all above the national 25.6%. The fewest cuts were in New York (16.5%), Wisconsin (17.3%), and Wyoming (18.3%).

Combining price cuts with days to pending and the change in homes for sale, 6 states were cold, buyer's markets (Utah, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, and Oklahoma) and 3 were hot, seller's markets (California, Rhode Island, and North Dakota). Florida had the slowest sales at 89 days to pending; Connecticut the fastest at 21.

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 10 of 50 states: West Virginia, Iowa, Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, Indiana, Arkansas, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Kansas. The widest gaps were in Hawaii (needed $200K, median earns $101K), California (needed $195K, median earns $100K), and Massachusetts (needed $175K, median earns $105K).

Renting was cheaper than a mortgage payment in 37 of the 50 largest metros, one per state. The widest gap in favor of renting was Los Angeles (California) at $1,896 a month; buying won most clearly in Charleston (West Virginia), where the payment was $461 below rent. Both comparisons leave out property tax, insurance and maintenance.

Every housing figure is Zillow Research's published number for July 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.