Housing Market Exhibited Strength in March

Seattle, WA, April 8, 2026-The housing market sprang forward in March, even as rising mortgage rates began to chip away at earlier affordability gains, according to the Zillow March Market Report. Newly pending listings rose 4.6% from a year earlier to record the second-largest monthly total since the end of the pandemic boom in August 2022, a positive signal as home shopping season opens.

Mortgage rates climbed from 5.98% at the end of February to 6.38% in late March, according to Freddie Mac. That increase cut into affordability gains that had fueled optimism to start the year-the typical mortgage payment rose 1.5% from February, excluding taxes and insurance.

Even so, demand held firm, with average daily page views per for-sale listing on Zillow 32% higher than last March. This demand signal outpacing inventory growth is showing the first signs of improvement since the pandemic ended. 

There were 281,546 newly pending listings in March-only May 2025 saw a higher total since August 2022. Both the 4.6% annual increase and 29.8% monthly increase are highs for March over the past five years.

Home values continued to rise modestly, up 0.8% from a year earlier, a slight acceleration from February's 0.4% annual growth. Inventory rose on an annual basis for the 28th consecutive month. New listings were essentially flat, up 0.1% year over year, which marked an improvement from January and February when new listings were below prior-year levels.

"Buyers and sellers have been navigating uncertainty and market volatility in some form since the onset of the pandemic, and this month's concern over energy prices is no different," said Mischa Fisher, chief economist at Zillow. "However, we have persistent signals that the market has turned a corner. Pent-up demand from three years of low sales volume and winter storms in January and February, along with the tailwind from lower mortgage rates earlier in the year, seem to have buoyed the market as home shopping season kicked off. In particular, the rapid acceleration of daily page views per listing we saw in March was a noteworthy improvement over the dormant market of recent years."