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

The typical U.S. home rose 0.4% over the year to $368,567 in March, according to the Zillow Home Value Index, and is up 29.6% over five years. A 20%-down mortgage on that home cost $1,802 a month in principal and interest and took about $96,163 of household income. Typical rent was $1,911, up 1.8% in a year. 21.6% of listings cut their price during the month, homes went pending in 68 days, and 1.16M homes were for sale, up 5.3% from a year earlier.

Underneath that average, the 50 states moved in different directions. Values were falling in 11 states and rising in 39; 34 states were at an all-time high while Arizona sat 8.6% below its July 2022 peak of $462,506. This report reads the state-level Zillow files for March 2026 as published, with no modeling and no forecasts.

The steepest year-over-year declines were in Florida (-4.2%), Colorado (-2.4%), Texas (-2.2%), Nevada (-2.0%), and Arizona (-1.8%). Florida's typical home stood at $377,288, 6.7% below its May 2024 peak of $404,529. At the other end, Wisconsin (+5.4%), North Dakota (+5.3%), and New York (+4.8%) posted the fastest gains.

By region, the West carried the highest median state value at $479K and the South the lowest at $272K. The West was down 0.5% on the median state, with values falling in 7 of its 13 states, the Northeast was up 2.5% on the median state, with values falling in 0 of its 11 states, the Midwest was up 3.4% on the median state, with values falling in 0 of its 12 states, and the South was up 0.3% on the median state, with values falling in 4 of its 14 states.

Price cuts are the earliest sign that a market is turning. Arizona (30.3%), Florida (25.5%), Utah (25.1%), Tennessee (25.0%), and Nevada (24.5%) had the largest share of listings with a reduced price, all above the national 21.6%. The fewest cuts were in New York (11.6%), Wisconsin (12.5%), and Alaska (12.8%).

Combining price cuts with days to pending and the change in homes for sale, 10 states were cold, buyer's markets (Colorado, Oregon, Nevada, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana) and 3 were hot, seller's markets (Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Alaska). Montana had the slowest sales at 96 days to pending; Connecticut the fastest at 35.

Zillow's 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 2 of 50 states: West Virginia and Iowa. The widest gaps were in California (needed $190K, median earns $92K), Hawaii (needed $194K, median earns $95K), and Washington (needed $152K, median earns $90K).

Renting was cheaper than a mortgage payment in 35 of the 50 largest metros, one per state. The widest gap in favor of renting was Los Angeles (California) at $1,765 a month; buying won most clearly in Charleston (West Virginia), where the payment was $469 below rent. Both comparisons leave out property tax, insurance and maintenance.

Every housing figure is Zillow Research's published number for March 2026: the Zillow Home Value Index (typical value of homes in the middle third of a market, not a median sale price), the Zillow Observed Rent Index for each state's largest metro, Zillow's mortgage payment and income-needed series, and its 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.