Despite mortgage rates remaining elevated due to ongoing economic pressures stemming from the Middle Eastern conflict, the market continues to paint a picture of resilience as this spring sees many signs grow historically better.
Zillow’s May Market Report saw monthly mortgage payments on a typical home (currently valued at $368,720) clock in at $1,861 (assuming a 20% down payment and excluding taxes and insurance). While a rise of 1.1% from April into May, this is down 3.1% year-over-year as mortgage rates remain historically lower than previous springs.
Recent data from the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) has also noted marginal improvements in affordability. NAR’s latest Housing Affordability Index registered at 105.6 in May, up from 97.5 one year ago, and all four regions saw affordability growth: the Northeast was up 5.1%, the Midwest was up 6.6%, the South was up 8.4% and the West was up 11%.
Also in line with this trend, home-price growth has been seeing sincere deceleration throughout 2026 so far, with the latest Case-Shiller report registering a fall month-over-month rather than the typical increase.
In addition, Zillow found active inventory rose 4.6% month-over-month and 1% year-over-year to 1.36 million homes for sale in May.
Double-digit year-over-year inventory growth was seen in a whopping 13 of the 50 largest metros, including Louisville, Kentucky (+21.3%); Minneapolis, Minnesota (+18.2%); Cincinnati, Ohio (+16.5%); Memphis, Tennessee (+16%); Seattle, Washington (+14.9%); Buffalo, New York (+14.2%); Raleigh, North Carolina (+14.1%); Cleveland, Ohio (+13.3%); Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (+12.9%); Indianapolis, Indiana (+12.7%); Boston, Massachusetts (+10.6%); Nashville, Tennessee (+10.5%); and Charlotte, North Carolina (+10.5%).
This is also in line with recent NAR data, which has seen existing home inventory grow for the past four consecutive months.
Sales have also been a bit up and down as of late, but Zillow’s data saw a 4.8% rise month-over-month to 341,929 homes sold in May. However, in line with the flip-flopping trend mentioned, this figure is down 2.9% year-over-year.
The largest year-over-year sales growth was in Salt Lake City, Utah (+10.8%); Austin, Texas (+10.7%); Louisville, Kentucky (+7.5%); Columbus, Ohio (+7.9%); and Memphis, Tennessee (+7.0%).
