{"id":8463,"date":"2026-09-22T10:10:51","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T17:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homebuyinginstitute.com\/mortgage\/?p=8463"},"modified":"2026-09-22T10:15:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T17:15:13","slug":"where-new-homes-cost-less-than-existing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homebuyinginstitute.com\/mortgage\/where-new-homes-cost-less-than-existing\/","title":{"rendered":"12 Housing Markets Where New Homes Cost Less Than Existing Homes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 12 of the 100 largest U.S. metropolitan areas, the median asking price for a newly built home was&nbsp;<em>below<\/em>&nbsp;the median asking price for an existing home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And in many other markets, the price gap between new and existing homes was found to be surprisingly small.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"background-color:#f7f7f7\">Here&#8217;s the bottom line to this story, right up front:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>New homes are cheaper in 12 major metros.<\/strong>&nbsp;In these markets, the median asking price for new construction is below that of existing homes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The biggest gaps are in Charleston, Oxnard, and Cape Coral.<\/strong>&nbsp;In these metros, new homes are more than 10% cheaper than existing homes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The gap is also small in six other metros.<\/strong>&nbsp;In places like Jacksonville, Fresno, and San Antonio, newly built homes were only slightly more expensive.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Florida and the Carolinas stand out.<\/strong>&nbsp;Seven of the 12 markets with negative new-construction premiums are located in those Sun Belt states.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>These markets are building a lot of homes.<\/strong>\u00a0Higher levels of new construction puts pressure on sellers to price homes competitively.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Grading the Nation&#8217;s 100 Largest Metro Areas<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.prnewswire.com\/news-releases\/realtorcom-metro-report-cards-des-moines-earns-top-marks-as-homebuilding-and-affordability-divide-americas-largest-metros-302879664.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recent Realtor.com analysis<\/a>&nbsp;ranked the nation&#8217;s 100 largest metropolitan areas based on two key housing metrics:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Affordability:<\/strong>&nbsp;How affordable homes are for local households, based on both typical mortgage costs and the share of homes affordable to buyers at different income levels.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Homebuilding:<\/strong>&nbsp;How much new housing is being built relative to the population, along with how the prices of new homes compare with existing homes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They then scored and graded all 100 of those housing markets based on how they measured up on these combined metrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the September 2026 report:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Ten metros earned grades in the A range by pairing strong affordability with healthy homebuilding activity. Des Moines, Iowa, ranked first with an A+ and a score of 83.4, followed by Raleigh, N.C., also with an A+ and a score of 82.8, and Columbia, S.C., with an A and a score of 75.3. At the other end of the rankings, 13 metros received F grades, with New York ranking No. 98, Providence, R.I., ranking No. 99, and Los Angeles ranking last at No. 100.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Their report&nbsp;is meant to highlight the importance of balancing affordability with homebuilding to improve housing conditions for local residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">12 Housing Markets Where New Homes Are Cheaper Than Existing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We wanted to know which housing markets across the U.S. offer newly built homes that are generally priced&nbsp;<em>lower<\/em>than existing resale homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So we sorted their 100-metro data table based on the &#8220;new construction premium.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Housing markets with a negative number in this column had a median asking price for new homes that was lower than the median asking price for existing homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"background-color:#f7f7f7\"><strong>Example:<\/strong>&nbsp;In the Charleston area, the median price for a new home was found to be 13.5% lower than the median price for existing homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table  class=\" table table-hover\" ><thead><tr><td><strong>Rank<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Metro<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>New Construction Premium<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>1<\/td><td>Charleston-North Charleston, SC<\/td><td>-13.5%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>2<\/td><td>Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA<\/td><td>-12.2%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>3<\/td><td>Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL<\/td><td>-11.9%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>4<\/td><td>Boise City, ID<\/td><td>-6.8%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>5<\/td><td>Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX<\/td><td>-6.0%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>6<\/td><td>Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC<\/td><td>-4.8%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>7<\/td><td>North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, FL<\/td><td>-4.6%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>8<\/td><td>Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL<\/td><td>-4.1%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>9<\/td><td>Raleigh-Cary, NC<\/td><td>-1.3%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>10<\/td><td>Palm Bay-Melbourne, FL<\/td><td>-1.0%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>11<\/td><td>Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ<\/td><td><strong>-0.4%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>12<\/td><td>Columbia, SC<\/td><td><strong>-0.2%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The price gap is most significant in a handful of housing markets, including&nbsp;<strong>Charleston<\/strong>, South Carolina;&nbsp;<strong>Oxnard<\/strong>, California; and&nbsp;<strong>Cape Coral<\/strong>, Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Buyers in these markets are often able to find newly built homes for less than the cost of an existing one. This gives them more choices and more negotiating leverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Where New Homes Are Only Slightly More Expensive<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 12 markets above aren&#8217;t the only places where the gap between new and existing homes is relatively small.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We also identified six metro areas where the median asking price for a newly built home was&nbsp;<strong>no more than 5% higher<\/strong>&nbsp;than the median asking price for an existing one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those housing markets are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Jacksonville, FL: +1.6%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fresno, CA: +1.9%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Portland-South Portland, ME: +2.7%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Salt Lake City-Murray, UT: +3.8%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Deltona-Daytona Beach, FL: +4.1%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX: +4.5%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Taken together, all of these housing markets show that a substantial new-construction premium isn&#8217;t a given. It really depends on where you live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"background-color:#f7f7f7\">In some of the nation&#8217;s largest housing markets, newly built homes are priced lower, or only slightly higher than, existing homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Most of These Markets Are Building a Lot<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Construction pipelines play a role in this. In many of the 12 housing markets shown above, an abundance of new homes could be forcing builders to price them competitively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In fact, 11 of the 12 metros on our list had a permit-to-population ratio above 1.0 in the Realtor.com data. That means they were permitting new homes at a rate above the national benchmark relative to their populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That pattern is most noticeable across the Sun Belt, with Charleston, Cape Coral, Austin, Greenville, North Port, Lakeland, Raleigh, Palm Bay, and Phoenix all making our list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When builders are adding a lot of new homes to the market, they have to compete for buyers. And with high home prices and mortgage rates keeping some\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.redfin.com\/news\/press-releases\/high-costs-sideline-some-would-be-homebuyers-handing-upper-hand-to-those-who-stay-in-the-market\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">buyers on the sidelines<\/a>, that competition can put pressure on builders to offer more attractive prices and incentives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"background-color:#f7f7f7\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.realtor.com\/research\/?p=11882\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Recent research<\/a>\u00a0has found that builders have been cutting prices and offering buyer incentives in response to the tougher market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Florida Is a Standout on This List<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The state of Florida makes a strong showing in the 12-metro list above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Four of the 12 major housing markets where new homes are cheaper than existing homes are located in the Sunshine State:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Cape Coral-Fort Myers<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Lakeland-Winter Haven<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Palm Bay-Melbourne<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And that&#8217;s not surprising. Florida has been one of the country&#8217;s\u00a0<a href=\"\/mortgage\/sun-belt-strongest-buyers-markets-2026\/\">most buyer-friendly<\/a>\u00a0housing markets for a couple of years now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"background-color:#f7f7f7\">Many cities across Florida currently have an abundance of homes for sale relative to the number of buyers who are in the market seeking them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Realtor.com has reported that Florida&#8217;s major metros have had unusually high levels of housing supply, while more recent Redfin analysis found that a glut of new construction is adding to the competition in the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All of this puts more pressure on home builders, when it comes to pricing, incentives, and concessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Oxnard: The California Outlier<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">California&#8217;s Oxnard-Thousand Oaks metropolitan area is arguably the most interesting outlier on the 12-metro list above, and for several reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here are the numbers for the Oxnard-area housing market:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>New Construction Premium:&nbsp;<strong>-12.2%<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Median listing price:&nbsp;<strong>$1.007 million<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>REALTORS\u00ae Affordability Score:&nbsp;<strong>0.376<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Permit-to-population ratio:&nbsp;<strong>0.44<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Overall Realtor.com grade:&nbsp;<strong>F<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this market, new construction is considerably cheaper than existing homes. But overall, housing is still extremely unaffordable and there&#8217;s insufficient construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Austin, Texas: A Pandemic Boom-to-Bust Story<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Austin is another noteworthy market on our list of 12 metros with relatively cheap new-home construction &#8230; but not for good reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Austin-Round Rock metro area received an overall grade of A- from Realtor.com, for having a combination of relative affordability and active homebuilding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>New Construction Premium:&nbsp;<strong>-6.0%<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Permit-to-population ratio:&nbsp;<strong>2.37<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Median listing price:&nbsp;<strong>$501,200<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>REALTORS\u00ae Affordability Score:&nbsp;<strong>0.639<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the Austin-area housing market is also still experiencing a post-pandemic market correction with steadily falling home prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From 2020 to 2022, Central Texas cities like Austin, Round Rock, and Leander became pandemic boomtowns, with new residents flooding in from all over the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You probably know the rest of this story. Austin-area home prices skyrocketed to record highs, peaked in mid-2022, and have been falling steadily ever since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With prices still dropping, a lot of home buyers are hesitant to enter the Austin housing market, despite all of the good deals on new construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">It&#8217;s Not Happening Everywhere<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our report identifies 12 U.S. metro areas where new homes typically cost less than existing ones, based on the median price for both categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But those 12 metros are the minority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of the&nbsp;100 U.S. metro areas&nbsp;in Realtor.com&#8217;s data table,&nbsp;88 of them have a positive New Construction Premium, while just&nbsp;12 have a negative premium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In other words,&nbsp;new homes generally cost&nbsp;<em>more<\/em>&nbsp;than existing ones in&nbsp;88% of the analyzed metros\u2014compared to only 12% where&nbsp;new&nbsp;homes cost <em>less<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"background-color:#f7f7f7\"><strong>Here are the metros with the highest new-construction premiums:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Detroit:&nbsp;+143.3%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Rochester:&nbsp;+141.6%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Buffalo:&nbsp;+140.4%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Toledo:&nbsp;+119.5%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Syracuse:&nbsp;+113.6%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cleveland:&nbsp;+102.8%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>New Haven:&nbsp;+102.2%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Bottom Line to All of This<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The relationship between new and existing home prices varies dramatically across America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And in a small but significant group of major metros, new construction has become the lower-priced segment of the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the most interesting thing here isn&#8217;t that new homes are cheaper in 12 places. It&#8217;s that the traditional assumption that &#8220;new construction = more expensive&#8221; breaks down in some of America&#8217;s most active housing markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And the reasons why could tell us something important about how supply, competition, and affordability interact.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 12 of the 100 largest U.S. metropolitan areas, the median asking price for a newly built home was&nbsp;below&nbsp;the median asking price for an existing home. And in many other markets, the price gap between new and existing homes was found to be surprisingly small. Here&#8217;s the bottom line to this story, right up front: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8466,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-housing-market"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>12 Housing Markets Where New Homes Cost Less Than Existing Ones<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In some housing markets across the U.S., newly built homes are priced lower, or only slightly higher than, existing homes.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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