With predictions flooding in left and right from real estate economists suggesting that 2026 will be an improved year for housing, recent data from ATTOM supports this view—showing that home sale trends that began in 2025 will pave the way toward normalization in the market throughout 2026.
ATTOM’s Year-End 2025 U.S. Home Sales Report found a record-high national median sale price of $360,000 for the 3.9 million homes sold throughout the year, 2.6% higher than 2024 and 39% higher than 2020. However, despite the increase in prices, typical sales only netted $118,710 in gross profits (a 49% ROI), down from a $124,500 gross profit (55% ROI) in 2024.
While a decrease in profits may not be what potential sellers want to hear when heading into the market, these decreases in profit margins suggest more affordability for buyers, bringing a balance back to the market.
“Home prices kept climbing in 2025 even as affordability challenges intensified for households across the country,” said ATTOM CEO Rob Barber. “While sellers continued to command record prices, profit margins have been declining for three consecutive years since peaking in 2022, suggesting the market may be gradually normalizing after a period of strong returns.”
ATTOM reported that profit margins were lower in 87.7% (114) of the 130 metro areas with sufficient data to analyze in 2025.
Notably, nine out of the 10 metro areas that saw the largest declines in profit margins were in Florida: North Port (typical profit margins down 24 percentage points to 45% in 2025); Cape Coral (down 22 points to 56%); Deltona (down 22 points to 51%); Palm Bay (down 19 points to 56%); and Port St. Lucie (down 16 points to 64%).
Florida has leaned on the more affordable side of the housing market due to its Southern location, but has also experienced high demand leading to competitive pricing and less affordability. Decreases in profit margins show a possible return to more affordability across the state.
Florida also claims three spots in the largest profit margin declines among metros with populations over 1 million: Tampa (down 15 percentage points to 58%); Jacksonville (down 13 points to 45%); and Miami (down 11 points to 72%).
Surprisingly, California claims two spots in the same category: Fresno (down 12 percentage points to 62%) and San Jose (down 12 points to 94%). The state has been notably unaffordable for a long period of time.
Both California and Florida also saw a rise in buyers using federal loan assistance. Among metro areas with populations over 200,000 and sufficient data to analyze, the highest rates of sales to FHA-assisted buyers were in Merced, California (25.6%); Visalia, California (24.5%); Bakersfield, California (22.7%); Modesto, California (20.6%); and Lakeland, Florida (20.3%).
Challenges remain for housing for the year ahead, as ATTOM also reported that the tenures owners remained in their homes reached record highs in 2025. Homeowners who sold their properties in Q4 2025 had owned their homes for an average of 8.55 years, up from 8.33 years in the previous quarter, and 8.05 years at the same time last year.
This is especially pronounced in New England, as the longest tenures prior to sale in Q4 were Barnstable, Massachusetts (14.12 years); Springfield, Massachusetts (13.49 years); New Haven, Connecticut (13.37 years); Bridgeport, Connecticut (13.2 years); and Hartford, Connecticut (13.15 years).
Other areas across the U.S. faced similar challenges, with the largest year-over-year increases in tenures appearing in Merced, California (up 34% to 12.5 years); Lakeland, Florida (up 18% to 8.26 years); Chattanooga, Tennessee (up 17% to 7.98 years); Colorado Springs, Colorado (up 16% to 8.43 years); and Cape Coral, Florida (up 15% to 8.33 years).
All-cash deals also continued to climb in 2025, rising to 39.1%, the highest they’ve been since 2013, representing only a slight increase from 39% in 2024.
Institutional investors also pose a challenge for the market, purchasing 6.6% of all homes in the U.S. last year. However, recently announced guidance from President Trump aims to end this issue by banning institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes.
