United States Housing Market Update - February 2026

February’s national housing data showed inventory continuing to expand while pricing softened. The historical CSV places the median list price at $403,450, down 2.08% from a year earlier, while active inventory rose 8.01% and new listings increased 3.22%. Homes spent a median 70 days on the market, about four days longer than in February 2025. The accompanying report described the inventory recovery as ongoing but uneven, with large regional differences still shaping conditions.

Median List Price -- Trailing 12 Months

Pricing and Value

Metric	Value
National Average List Price	$714,260 (-2.1% YoY)
National Median List Price	$403,450 (-2.1% YoY)
National Median List Price Per Sq Ft	$223/sq ft (-1.9% YoY)
National Median Square Feet	1,790 (-0.1% YoY)

Market Speed and Competition

Metric	Value
National Median Days on Market	70 days (+4 days YoY)
National Price-Increased Share	1.1% (-0.2 percentage points YoY)
National Price-Reduced Share	15.5% (-1.3 percentage points YoY)

Supply Snapshot

Metric	Value
National Active Listings	915,717 (+8% YoY)
National Total Listings	1,296,466 (+6.6% YoY)

Market Activity

Metric	Value
National New Listings	365,052 (+3.2% YoY)
National Pending Listings	383,922 (+3.3% YoY)
National Pending Ratio	41.9 (-1.9 percentage points YoY)

What This Means for Sellers

• The median list price declined 2.08% year over year, and the median price per square foot fell 1.9%, making accurate initial pricing increasingly important.
• Active inventory rose 8.01% and total listings increased 6.6%, giving buyers more alternatives than a year earlier.
• The typical home spent 70 days on the market, roughly four days longer than in February 2025, so sellers had less reason to assume a quick sale.
• Price reductions affected 15.52% of listings, down 1.32 percentage points from the prior year, supporting the report’s view that more sellers were adjusting expectations before listing rather than relying on later cuts.

What This Means for Buyers

• Active inventory and new listings both increased from the prior year, giving buyers more choice at the national level.
• Median list prices and price per square foot declined year over year, while homes took longer to sell.
• The report showed that supply recovery remained uneven: the Northeast and Midwest were still well below pre-pandemic inventory norms, while the South and West were much closer to prior levels.
• Price cuts were more common in the South and West than in the Northeast and Midwest, indicating that negotiating conditions varied widely by region.

Deeper Market Data

The broader CSV shows pending listings up 3.28% year over year and total listings up 6.6%. Even with more homes under contract, the pending ratio fell 1.92 percentage points to 41.93%, indicating that the overall listing pool expanded faster than pending activity. The average list price declined 2.12%, median listed square footage was essentially unchanged at 1,790 square feet, and the share of listings with price increases remained close to 1%. The article also reported stable contract cancellations and emphasized that inventory growth since early 2024 had been concentrated more heavily in the South and West and in lower price tiers.