First American's April index shows a monthly gain as regional gaps widen between Midwest and Sunbelt markets
The spring homebuying season has pushed United States house prices to within striking distance of their May 2025 peak, though gains remain measured and the national market continues to fracture along geographic lines, according to the latest data from First American Data & Analytics, a division of First American Financial Corporation.
The firm's April 2026 Home Price Index recorded a 0.2% month-over-month increase on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, with the year-over-year change landing at 0.0% — the eighth consecutive month that annual appreciation has failed to breach 1%.
A revision to the March figure also offered mild encouragement, with that reading adjusted upward by 0.3 percentage points to 0.6%.
A cautious seasonal lift
Mark Fleming, chief economist at First American Data & Analytics, said the numbers point to a recognizable but underwhelming seasonal uptick.
"While annual house price growth is essentially flat nationally, a slight uptick in monthly appreciation suggests the typical spring home-buying season lift is buoying the housing market, though modestly relative to historical norms," he said.
"Nationally, prices are now just shy of the peak reached last May, indicating the market has found a balance between affordability constraints, available inventory and buyer demand."
Single-family home prices in the United States rose 1.7% year over year in the first quarter of 2026, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI).https://t.co/lVjUUbWPyI
— Mortgage Professional America Magazine (@MPAMagazineUS) May 26, 2026
Melissa Cohn, regional vice president at William Raveis Mortgage, told Mortgage Professional America earlier this year that "2026 has gotten off to a better start than we've seen, and the pace is better than what we've seen in the past few months."
A First American Data & Analytics recent analysis of spring affordability conditions found that housing affordability posted its sixth straight annual improvement in March 2026, though rising mortgage rates have since trimmed those gains.
A market divided by zip code
"Regional divergence remains the defining feature of today's housing market," Fleming said.
"While Midwestern and Northeastern markets continue to post annual price gains, 21 of the top 30 markets we track are either flat or below year-ago price levels. The 9.6 percentage point spread between Chicago, the strongest-performing market, and Austin, Texas, the weakest, illustrates just how localized housing market conditions have become."
Chicago led all major markets with a 4.4% annual gain, followed by Cambridge, Massachusetts at 3.8%, St. Louis at 2.9%, and New Brunswick, New Jersey at 2.1%.
The starter-home tier in St. Louis rose 8.0% year over year, the sharpest gain in that segment nationally.
At the other end of the spectrum, Austin, Texas fell 5.2%, Houston dropped 4.8%, Oakland, California declined 4.1%, and Tampa, Florida slid 3.2% — markets where earlier spring data already flagged softening conditions.
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