21 cities – A new Realtor.com report shows new home listings and contract signings at their highest levels in four years, with 21 metro areas—mostly in the Midwest—seeing both metrics rise together, signaling a potential thaw after years of high-rate pressure.
For buyers who’ve sat on the sidelines, the shift is subtle—but it’s visible. Realtor.com’s latest report finds that both new home listings and contract signings have hit their highest levels in four years. a springtime uptick that suggests the housing market may finally be shaking off some of the pressure that took hold in 2022.
The change matters because it’s happening in the most important places at the same time: contracts and listings are moving together. rather than pulling against each other. “For the first time in three years. we’re seeing contract signing growth that genuinely outpaces the trend of the recent past. ” Jake Krimmel. senior economist at Realtor.com. said in the report. “Buyers have been sidelined but they haven’t disappeared—they’ve simply been waiting for the right conditions.”.
Krimmel links that waiting period to a simple equation: when pricing and expectations line up between buyers and sellers. transactions start to move. “That supply-demand-price alignment is what separates a dynamic market from a stagnant one. and we’re beginning to see it take hold in a meaningful way. ” he said.
The report compares new listings with contract signings to show how the housing market’s push and pull is playing out. In the latest data. the two halves of the market are both moving in a positive direction at once—an alignment that can help prevent the stagnation many Americans have lived through in recent years.
So far this year, contract signings are up 2.9% compared with 2025. New signed contracts are rising more quickly than new listings, a pattern the report describes as a sign that supply-and-demand imbalances that have made homebuying difficult are starting to ease.
With homes that go under contract typically closing within four to six weeks, the report says the demand signal should show up in closed sales data by June—framed as “the clearest evidence yet that the 2026 housing market is starting to move.”
Across the country, the broad improvement isn’t uniform. Looking at the top 50 metro areas, contract signings are up in 34 markets compared with 2025. In 31 of those metros, home listings are also up from last year. In 21 of those markets, new listings and contract signings are moving upward together.
This phenomenon is concentrated in the Midwest, including Kansas City; Louisville, Kentucky; Indianapolis; Columbus, Ohio; and Cincinnati.
That regional concentration is where the contrast becomes hardest to ignore. While some metros appear to be lining up in a way that supports momentum, other cities are still wrestling with weaker demand or limited inventory.
In Las Vegas and Tampa, Florida, both new listings and new contract signings are down from last year due to weakened demand. In Hartford, Connecticut, and Providence, Rhode Island, the problem is nearly the mirror image: limited supply of homes leaves those metro areas stuck for the opposite reason.
A market doesn’t unstick just because buyers become willing; homes also have to be priced realistically enough that they don’t sit for weeks before a price cut becomes inevitable. Even then, people trying to buy or sell still live under forces bigger than any local listing.
Krimmel tied the market’s next leg forward to outside conditions that can shift quickly—especially mortgage rates and consumer confidence. “If some resolution to Middle East uncertainty stabilizes mortgage rates and restores consumer confidence. the housing market may finally break out of the lower equilibrium it has occupied since 2022. ” he said.
The warning came with the flip side: “If macro headwinds intensify—through rising rates, reaccelerating inflation, or a deterioration in confidence—the market could face the same fate as 2025, when tariff-related uncertainty stalled what had been a promising early spring,” Krimmel said.
The picture emerging from the data is therefore both hopeful and fragile. In 21 metro areas—predominantly in the Midwest—contracts and listings are rising together, offering a concrete sign of easing pressure. But elsewhere. demand is still soft in some places and inventory constraints remain in others. while broader economic shocks could still interrupt momentum before it reaches closed sales.
U.S. housing market Realtor.com contract signings new home listings mortgage rates 2026 housing market Midwest metros Kansas City Indianapolis Columbus Cincinnati Louisville Las Vegas Tampa Hartford Providence
So prices are going down then? Sounds like a win.
I don’t really trust these “4 years” stats. Feels like it’s still crazy expensive to buy anything where I live. People keep saying “thaw” like that means my payments magically drop.
Midwest cities “mostly” in the mix… ok but like, my cousin in Ohio says his listing hasn’t moved at all. If contracts are up 2.9% does that mean prices are rising too? Because I swear everything is still higher than 2022. Also I thought rates were the whole problem but apparently it’s more “alignment”???
Realtor.com report says listings and contracts rising together, so maybe buyers are coming back. But I feel like they always pick the one metric that sounds good. “Buyers sidelined but not disappeared” like yeah ok, they just can’t afford it. If expectations line up… whose expectations, sellers or lenders? Because my friend tried to buy and got denied anyway, so idk.