U.S. Home Prices Rise; California Leads Costliest Markets

U.S. home prices continued to climb across many metropolitan areas, while most of the nation’s costliest housing markets remained concentrated in California, according to a new report.

A 2025 fourth quarter housing market report released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) found that home prices rose year over year in 73% of major metro areas nationwide. In total, 168 of 230 metro areas saw higher median prices for existing single-family homes compared with the same period a year earlier, down from 77% in the third quarter.

By region, the report said median single-family home prices increased 5.5% in the Northeast and 4.3% in the Midwest. Prices fell 0.2% in the South and 1.2% in the West. Within California, results were mixed across 13 metro areas: prices rose in six markets, held at similar levels in two, and declined in five.

Even with the uneven pattern inside California, the state still accounted for most of the nation’s highest-priced markets. NAR reported that eight of the top 10 most expensive housing markets in the 2025 fourth quarter were in California.

Among them, the San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara metro area ranked as the most expensive market, with a median single-family home price of $1.92 million. Prices there were similar to a year earlier, but it remained the priciest market nationwide. The Anaheim–Santa Ana–Irvine area ranked second at $1,396,500 (2.7%), more than three times the national median single-family home price of $414,900 (1.2%).

Other top markets included San Francisco–Oakland–Hayward ($1,305,000, -0.8%), Honolulu, Hawaii ($1,142,100, 3.5%), and San Diego–Carlsbad ($994,000, 0.9%). The remaining markets in the top 10 were Salinas ($995,500, 1.2%), Los Angeles–Long Beach–Glendale ($939,700, 0.0%), Oxnard–Thousand Oaks–Ventura ($936,700, 1.8%), San Luis Obispo–Paso Robles ($917,100, -1.1%), and Nassau County–Suffolk County, New York ($818,800, 9.6%).

Lawrence Yun, chief economist at NAR, said most metro areas are still holding near record-high home equity values, though some places are seeing price declines. “Most metro areas are still holding near record-high home equity values, but some areas are seeing price declines,” Yun said. “In places where new housing supply is rising, competition among sellers tends to become more intense.”

BY HOONSIK WOO [woo.hoonsik@koreadaily.com]