Even as inventory grows, the homes entering the market remain largely out of reach for middle-income buyers, according to a new joint report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and Realtor.com.
The report, out Wednesday, introduces the Listing-Income Alignment Score, a metric that measures how well the distribution of homes for sale matches the income distribution of local households. A score of 100 percent indicates full alignment; lower scores reflect a market skewed toward higher price points. Nationally, the score reached 74.9 percent in March 2026, up from 66.7 percent a year earlier but still below the pre-pandemic baseline of 84.4 percent.
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The gap is most acute for middle-income households. Those earning roughly $75,000 per year can access only 23 percent of listings nationwide — compared with 44 percent in a balanced market. Restoring that balance would require approximately 311,000 additional listings priced below $261,000, the report found.
“Housing supply is growing and affordability is improving,” NAR Principal Economist Nadia Evangelou said in the report. “However, the U.S. housing market continues to face a structural mismatch between the homes available for sale and what buyers can afford.”
Danielle Hale | Credit: Realtor.com
Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale echoed that framing.
“A true recovery requires homes at the right price points,” Hale said. “Until the supply of entry-level and middle-market homes grows to meet demand, many buyers will continue to find the market out of reach despite headline improvements in affordability and inventory.”
Of the 100 largest metros, 99 improved or held flat year over year. The markets most aligned when it comes to listing price and incomes are concentrated in the Midwest, where home prices remain more closely tied to local incomes. Toledo, Ohio (107.4 percent), St. Louis (106 percent) and Akron, Ohio (105 percent) led the rankings.
The most constrained markets were Los Angeles (39.4 percent), San Diego (45 percent) and Oxnard, California (46.8 percent). The largest year-over-year gains came in markets that saw the steepest pandemic-era appreciation, including Lakeland, Florida (+18.3 percentage points) and McAllen, Texas (+14.7 percentage points).
Madison, Wisconsin, was the only major metro to record a decline — meaning incomes and home prices became less aligned — falling nearly eight percentage points to 63 percent.
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