After Zillow shared its 10 predictions for 2026,
Redfin is forecasting a “Great Housing Reset” taking shape next year.
They don’t expect a sharp price correction or a recession, but rather the start of a long, gradual recovery marked by improving affordability and a slow normalization in prices and sales.
Redfin anticipates a multi-year reset beginning in 2026: not a rapid drop in prices, and not a downturn, but a steady period where home sales inch up and prices normalize as affordability slowly gets better. A key shift they expect is for incomes to outpace home-price growth for an extended stretch—the first time since the Great Recession.
Still, near-term affordability will remain out of reach for many Gen Z buyers and young families, pushing tradeoffs like living with roommates or parents and delaying children. Lawmakers across the political spectrum are likely to advance cost-cutting measures—from YIMBY initiatives to expanded manufactured housing. These steps may help at the margins, but they won’t deliver an overnight cure.
Redfin’s 11 predictions for 2026:
- Mortgage rates ease into the low‑6% range, offering some affordability relief
- Affordability improves as wages grow faster than home prices
- Home sales tick up about 3%
- Rents climb as apartment demand strengthens and new supply wanes
- High housing costs reshape living arrangements: more roommates, fewer babies
- Bipartisan momentum builds to tackle the affordability crisis
- More homeowners choose to refinance and renovate
- NYC suburbs and the Great Lakes gain heat, while former Zoom towns like Nashville and Austin cool
- Climate migration becomes hyperlocal
- NAR defers more to local MLSs, accelerating consolidation
- AI steps in as a real‑estate matchmaker