US housing market 2026: prices, costs, and FSBO

The market is sending two signals at once, and a seller needs to read both. Closed sale prices are still rising: the national median sale price was $398,771 in May 2026, up about 2.0 percent over the year, with corroborating monthly indices showing similar modest gains. But asking prices are doing the opposite. The national median list price was $429,500 in May, down 2.4 percent year-over-year, the seventh straight monthly decline, and list price per square foot fell to $228, described as a record annual drop. Sellers are cutting their asking prices even as the homes that actually close still fetch a little more than they did a year ago.

Our own June 2026 nowcast, rolling the freshest official figures forward one month by the latest seasonally adjusted national trend, lands at roughly $430,400 median asking and $399,600 median sale. So the typical US home is worth around $400,000 when it sells, and the gap between what sellers ask and what buyers pay is widening.

We also took our own read of live listings. Across 25 for-sale listings we examined in mid-2026 in New York, Los Angeles, and Houston, the median asking price was $519,900 (New York about $512,500, Los Angeles about $525,000, Houston about $519,900). New York and Los Angeles sit above the national median as you would expect; the Houston reading runs well above that metro's published median near $370,000, so our small sample there clearly skewed to pricier stock. Treat the pooled figure as a big-city asking snapshot, not a balanced three-metro average. Full published metro figures run higher still, with New York metro median list near $688,844 in April 2026. Our sample is a quick large-metro snapshot, not a substitute for the national gauge: for a typical US home value, the national medians near $400,000 to $430,000 are the numbers to use.

Three things tell you the balance of power is shifting toward buyers. Inventory is rising: there were 1,483,839 homes for sale in May 2026, up 0.7 percent over the year, with new listings hitting a multi-year high. Homes are taking longer to sell, at a median 49 days, up three days year-over-year. And sellers are visibly trimming asking prices, the clearest tell of all.

The brake that kept this from becoming a deeper slide is the mortgage rate, and it has finally eased a little. The 30-year fixed averaged 6.47 percent in the week of June 18, 2026, down from 6.81 percent a year earlier. That modest relief is part of why sales volume rose: 308,446 homes sold in May, up 5.2 percent over the year. More buyers can transact, but more choice and longer timelines mean they no longer have to rush or overpay.

For a seller: this is not a market where anything sells in a weekend. It rewards sharp pricing and a home that shows well, and it punishes anyone anchored to last year's peak. Price to this spring's comparable sales, not to what your neighbor listed at and then cut.

Outside of commission, seller-side transaction costs in the US typically run about 2 to 4 percent of the sale price. That covers title insurance (an owner's policy is roughly 0.5 percent and is often seller-paid), escrow, settlement and recording fees (a few hundred dollars up to about 0.5 percent), and a transfer or conveyance tax that depends heavily on the state. Transfer tax is zero in about 13 states, including Texas, and climbs above 2 percent in parts of New York and Delaware. There is no national notary requirement; a title or escrow company or a real estate attorney handles closing, depending on where you are.

The big variable is commission, and that changed in 2024. The typical total agent commission is 5 to 6 percent, though post-settlement averages have drifted closer to 5 to 5.5 percent, with the listing side around 2.5 to 3 percent and a separately negotiated buyer-agent fee around 2 to 2.5 percent. The seller has historically paid both sides out of the proceeds. Since the National Association of Realtors settlement took effect in 2024, buyer-agent compensation is decoupled and negotiated separately. The seller can still offer to pay the buyer's agent as a concession but is no longer expected to by default, and buyers increasingly negotiate or pay their own agent directly. The listing agent is still paid by the seller.

Add it together and all-in seller costs commonly run 6 to 10 percent of the sale price. On a $450,000 home, our illustrative breakdown comes to about $30,375, roughly 6.75 percent, with the listing commission the single largest controllable line.

For sale by owner is fully legal in every US state. You can list, market directly, and, through a flat-fee service, get onto the same multiple listing service an agent would use, which is what feeds the major consumer portals where buyers and their agents search. You can list free on Anyone.com as well, directly as the owner, with no fees on the listing. A title or escrow company or an attorney handles the contract and closing.

It remains uncommon and is at an all-time low. FSBO was about 5 percent of US home sales in 2025 and 2026, down from roughly 21 percent in 1985, held down by the MLS and buyer-agent networks that dominate distribution rather than by any legal barrier. NAR also reports a price gap: a median FSBO sale around $380,000 against about $435,000 for agent-assisted sales. Part of that gap reflects different homes and markets rather than the method itself, but it is a real number to plan around, and it argues for pricing carefully and getting full exposure rather than skipping the MLS.

The trade is real work for real money. You price the home, market it, hold showings, field offers, and manage the timeline to closing. With the buyer-agent fee no longer baked into every listing, the math that kept many owners from trying has shifted. For a fairly priced, well-located home in a slower, more selective 2026 market, the savings are within reach for an owner willing to do the work.