The housing market might finally start shaking off some dust after a few years stuck in a rut.
According to a new report from Realtor.com, both new home listings and contract signings just hit their highest level in four years. That surge in springtime activity is a sign that the real estate market might be becoming unstuck after years weighed down by the high interest rates that took root this time in 2022.
“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 says that buyers are looking ready to take the leap in markets where sellers are being realistic about pricing. “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,” Krimmel said.
By looking at new listings together with contract signings, you can get a picture of how the housing market’s inherent push and pull is going. Now, those two halves of the market are both moving in a positive direction in tandem rather than working against each other—a difficult dynamic that can lead to the stagnation we’ve seen in recent years.
According to the new data, contract signings are up 2.9% this year so far compared with 2025. New signed contracts are growing more quickly than new listings now too, a sign that the supply and demand imbalances that have made homebuying a headache are starting to ease. “With homes that go under contract typically closing within four to six weeks, that demand signal is on track to show up in closed sales data by June, the clearest evidence yet that the 2026 housing market is starting to move,” the report states.
Midwest metros trending the right way
Across the top 50 metro areas in the country, 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 up together. That phenomenon is happening predominantly in the Midwest, including in Kansas City; Louisville, Kentucky; Indianapolis; Columbus, Ohio; and Cincinnati.
While the stars might be aligning in some regions of the country, things vary considerably depending on where you look. In cities like 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, a limited supply of homes leaves those metro areas stuck for the opposite reason.
To unstick a market, homes in a stagnant area need to be priced in a realistic way that doesn’t leave them languishing for weeks before an inevitable price cut. But even when the price is right, people buying and selling homes are still subject to macroeconomic forces well beyond their control.
“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,” Krimmel said.
“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,” he said.