Top 10 New Residential Construction Metros for 2026 Named

Washington, DC, August 31, 2026–The United States is still short an estimated four million homes, and closing that gap through new residential construction remains critical to keeping homeownership within reach for American families.

The 2026 Top New-Construction Metros report ranks the ten markets that offer the best mix of availability, affordability, sustainability, and desirability among new homes. Drawing from the 100 largest U.S. metros, we score and rank each market using the following weighted criteria:

• New-construction share of listings, 33%
• New-construction premium (the percentage difference between median new-build and median existing-home listing prices), 33%
• Climate risk difference (the percentage difference in average flood, fire, air quality, wind, and heat risk between new builds and existing homes), 17%
• Hotness of new-construction market (based on page views per listing and median time on market for new builds), 17%

The top ten markets are 

1. Charleston-North Charleston, SC
2. Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC
3. Boise City, ID
4. Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC
5. Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN
6. Chattanooga, TN-GA
7. Winston-Salem, NC
8. Madison, WI
9. Durham-Chapel Hill, NC
10. Columbia, SC