Wealthion · Thursday, July 30, 2026
Ivy Zelman of Zelman & Associates reports a "tale of two geographies" in the US housing market. Markets that saw significant inbound migration during COVID, like those in Florida, Texas, and Arizona, are experiencing price drops of up to 20% due to overbuilding, while the Midwest and coastal markets, lacking new construction, are seeing home prices rise mid-single digits.
“And those markets are where you're seeing prices that are down off peaks, some as much as 20%. And we're seeing a little bit of what might be forming a bottom, like in some of the Florida MSAs. But, you know, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Lesso, but, you know, that Southeast sunbelt market has been definitely more challenged.”
“In contrast, if you go to the Midwest, where there's been pretty much no development. And the same thing really in the coastal markets, whether you're looking California MSAs or you're looking at the markets within the Northeast. Those markets are starved for new construction. And so even though demand is necessarily not that strong, there is more demand than supply, so home prices are rising.”
“So example would be if you looked at Hartford, Connecticut that compared to inventory pre-COVID, they're down 80% to compared to where they were in in '19. So home prices are up mid single digits there and likely to continue to rise.”