Americans have new opportunities in 2026 housing market

The spring housing market is typically the most active stretch of the calendar, when listings surge and buyer demand peaks. In 2026, that seasonal pattern has been anything but reliable for Americans hoping to make a move.

Mortgage rates have stayed well above the levels real estate investors and everyday homebuyers grew used to before the pandemic, and home prices in most major markets remain high. What would have typically been a busy spring has instead felt like a holding pattern.

In the May 2026 edition of the BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast monthly housing market update, chief investment officer Dave Meyer detailed how the spring housing market is starting to shift in ways that buyers and real estate investors may not have expected.

The shift, while suboptimal by certain metrics, is creating opportunities. Days on market are climbing, sellers are cutting prices faster than expected, and a window for buyer leverage has quietly opened.

"With rate volatility, geopolitical turmoil, and a general sense of economic uncertainty, the housing market isn't following its usual patterns," Meyer said in Friday's episode. "But that does not mean that it's all bad. In fact, there are a lot of silver linings emerging in the housing market that real estate investors should be paying attention to."

What May 2026 housing market update reveals

At the center of Meyer's update is one number that captures the shift now underway: days on market have climbed to 43, the highest level in several years. Meyer was quick to put that figure in historical context. Before the pandemic, the average time for a home to go under contract was closer to two months. During the frenzied stretches of 2022 and 2023, that window had collapsed to as little as seven days in some markets.

What has shifted, Meyer said, is how sellers are responding. He noted that price cuts are coming faster than he would have expected based on past cycles, a change he attributes to a broader reorientation in seller psychology.

"Sellers' brains have sort of been reoriented now to think that if their property is sitting on the market for two or three weeks, all of a sudden it's going to go stale," Meyer said.

More on housing market and mortgage rates:

• Americans face major opportunity after housing market shift
• Redfin predicts major housing market shift for homebuyers
• Americans get blunt message on potential housing market crash

At the same time, demand has not collapsed the way many feared. Meyer noted that mortgage purchase applications are up 5% year-over-year and pending sales are up 8% year-over-year. Additionally, he added Google search volume for homes for sale has reached its highest level in nine months, up 20% from the same point last year. Meyer said those data points run counter to the prevailing narrative that Americans have walked away from the housing market entirely.

"There is still demand in the market," he said. "We are seeing people not hyper sensitive to recent changes in mortgage rates."

On the supply side, the picture has been just as stable. Citing different data, including Redfin's, Meyer noted active inventory is roughly flat year-over-year. He added the number of homeowners listing their properties for sale is actually down slightly from a year ago, a signal that runs against the crash narrative that has dominated parts of the housing market conversation.

What the housing market shift could mean for homebuyers, real estate investors

For buyers who have spent years watching homes disappear within days of hitting the market, the current environment represents a real opportunity. Meyer has been describing the broader market as "the great stall," a slow, drawn-out normalization that is neither a crash nor a recovery, but one that is quietly creating room for buyers to engage with sellers in ways they couldn't during the pandemic frenzy.

"Your ability to have a good productive conversation with a seller is now maybe after 3 weeks, maybe it's after four weeks, but that means you don't have to sit and look for listings that are out there for 180 days," Meyer said.

That is just one tangible opportunity this shift has created, and Meyer outlined three specific moves for taking advantage of it: patience, deal flow, and disciplined underwriting. The first is the most actionable in the short term. With listings sitting longer and sellers reorienting toward earlier price cuts, buyers no longer have to chase the market and can let overpriced listings come down before stepping in.

On the deal flow side, Meyer pointed to a less visible source of inventory: homeowners and investors looking to sell off-market because their flips or rental properties are no longer profitable.

"That is a sign of distress. I don't think it's going to tank the market, but I do think it means there's opportunity out there," Meyer said.

What hasn't changed is the broader cost picture. The 30-year mortgage rate is still hovering in the mid-6% range, home prices in most major markets remain elevated, and Meyer cautioned that neither dynamic is likely to ease in any meaningful way in the near term. What has changed is the room buyers now have to operate within that environment. The window for negotiation has compressed from months to weeks, and the data suggests that opening will hold as long as days on market stay where they are.

Key takeaways from BiggerPockets' May 2026 housing market update

• Days on market climb to multi-year highs: Homes are now taking about 43 days to go under contract, the longest stretch in several years. The figure is still below the roughly two-month average that prevailed before the pandemic, but well above the seven to 30 day stretches seen during the 2022 and 2023 frenzy.
• Demand has held up despite rate volatility: Mortgage purchase applications are up 5% year-over-year, pending sales are up 8% year-over-year, and Google search volume for homes for sale has reached a nine-month high, up 20% from the same point last year. The numbers point to a buyer pool that has stayed engaged even as rates and prices have remained elevated.
• Sellers are cutting prices faster than expected: Meyer said sellers have been psychologically reoriented to drop their asking prices within three to four weeks rather than holding firm. The earlier cuts have opened a real negotiating window for buyers who previously had to chase stale listings.
• Meyer's three-part playbook for the moment: Patience to let overpriced listings come down before stepping in, deal flow through off-market and investor-to-investor channels, and underwriting that assumes low appreciation with conservative rent assumptions.
• Rates and prices remain anchored: Mortgage rates have stayed in the 6.3 to 6.5% range, home prices in most major markets are still high, and Meyer characterized the current environment as a "great stall," a slow normalization rather than a crash.

Related: Americans get blunt message on potential housing market crash

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This story was originally published May 16, 2026 at 7:10 PM.