Nearly 1 in 5 new homes cut prices in Q4 2025, and for the first time in recent history, builders are discounting more aggressively than resale sellers.
According to Realtor.com’s latest New-Construction Insights report, 19.3% of new-construction listings had price reductions versus 18% of existing homes, even as the median new-home price held at $451,128, up just 0.3% year over year.
Builders are competing harder on price while overall new-home values remain relatively stable. And detached new construction is emerging as a more competitively priced option than many resale homes.
Byron Lazine unpacked the report on today’s Hot Sheet. Read on for the highlights. Then tune in for Byron’s full breakdown.
Builders Are Cutting Faster Than Sellers
Let’s start with the stat that sets the tone for this entire conversation.
In Q4 2025, 19.3% of new-construction listings had price reductions. Existing homes came in at 18%. That gap may look small on paper, but it’s the first time in recent history that new builds are more likely than resale homes to carry a price cut.
At the same time, the median new-home price was $451,128, up just 0.3% year over year. Resale homes had a median listing price of $394,800 and were essentially flat compared to a year ago.
So what’s happening here?
Builders are sitting on inventory. They can’t “wait it out” the way many homeowners can. If a resale seller doesn’t get their number, they’ll often pull the listing.
A builder with dozens, or hundreds, of homes in various stages of completion doesn’t have that luxury. They need absorption.
And in several states, the pricing pressure is even more obvious:
Nevada
- 24.8% of new builds had price reductions
- 19.6% of existing homes did
Indiana
- 23.3% of new builds
- 22.1% of existing homes
New Jersey
- 19.9% of new builds
- 10.7% of existing homes
Four of the seven above-benchmark states are in the South and West, where new construction activity is highest.
But Indiana, Minnesota, and New Jersey stand out because they’re not traditional Sun Belt boom markets. Builders there are still cutting more aggressively than resale sellers.
Here’s how Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale explained it:
“New construction has been one of the steadiest parts of the housing market over the past few years, but builders are clearly responding to today’s affordability pressures and higher-levels of existing-home inventory.
“Nearly one in five new homes cut prices, more than in the resale market for the first time in recent history.
“This is not just a reflection of regional divergence and where new homes are built; we are seeing builders compete more directly on price to keep sales moving, even as overall new-home prices remain relatively stable.”
That last line is the key. Builders aren’t slashing because values are collapsing. They’re adjusting because competition is real and buyers have options again.
Pricing, Growth, and Premiums: New vs. Existing
If you zoom out beyond the price-cut headlines, the broader pricing picture gets more interesting.
The median listing price for a newly built home in Q4 2025 was $451,128. That’s up just 0.3% year over year. Since Q4 2023, new-home prices have been essentially flat.
Compare that to resale. The median existing-home price in Q4 2025 was $394,800, also flat year over year, but up 2.7% since Q4 2023.
So builders are cutting more often, yet the overall median price hasn’t moved much. That tells you these are tactical adjustments, not a collapse in home values.
Here’s how the two segments stack up side by side:
- Median new-home price: $451,128
- Up 0.3% year over year
- Flat since Q4 2023
- Median resale price: $394,800
- Essentially flat year over year
- Up 2.7% since Q4 2023
- New-construction premium:
- 14.3% in Q4 2025
- Up from 14% in Q4 2024
Then there’s the price-per-square-foot story.
In Q4 2025:
- New construction: $218 per square foot
- Existing homes: $217 per square foot
For most of 2024 and into 2025, new construction was actually cheaper on a price-per-square-foot basis. Now it’s slightly higher again. On paper, that’s where you’d expect it to be. A brand-new home should command a higher size-adjusted price.
There are two reasons this comparison gets tricky.
- New homes are bigger. The median new build clocked in at 2,051 square feet in Q4 2025, up from 2,034 square feet a year earlier.
- Geography plays a role too. Many new builds sit on the edge of metros where land is cheaper, while existing homes closer to city centers trade at a premium.
Time on market adds another layer:
- New builds: 80.7 days in Q4 2025
- Existing homes: 64.5 days
Builders are taking a bit longer to move product. But they’re moving it by adjusting pricing, incentives, and terms instead of pulling listings.
If you’re talking to buyers, that’s the opportunity. The flexibility is more likely to be on the new-construction side right now, even if the headline median price looks higher.
Detached Homes Are Delivering the Value
If you really want to understand where the opportunity is, you have to split this by property type.
At a national level, newly built attached homes, including condos and townhomes, are actually more expensive than newly built single-family homes.
Start with single-family. In Q4 2025:
- Newly built single-family homes carried a 10.7% premium over existing single-family homes.
- New single-family homes made up 18.7% of the single-family homes on the market.
That premium has been shrinking in recent years. Builders have been pricing detached product more competitively relative to resale, and they’ve been building more of it in markets where affordability still works.
Now look at attached homes. In Q4 2025:
- Newly built attached homes made up 15.6% of the attached-home market.
- The new-construction premium for attached homes was 30.7%, and it’s rising.
A 30.7% premium tells you this segment isn’t competing the same way detached product is.
There’s another piece to this. A staggering 26.7% of existing condos for sale are in Florida, where that market has struggled. That drags down the resale condo baseline and makes the new-build comparison look even wider.
Realtor.com senior economist Joel Berner summed it up this way:
“What we’re seeing is a market where single-family new construction is filling an affordability gap that resale homes increasingly can’t.
“Condos are still playing an important role in certain markets, but they’re skewing more luxury, while detached homes are doing more of the work when it comes to expanding supply.”
If you’re advising buyers, pay attention to the split. Detached new construction is competing directly with resale on price.
Attached new construction, in many markets, is still priced like a premium product.
The Metro Data Explains the Condo Price Flip
Now, let’s look at where newly-built condos for sale are concentrated.
Nearly 10% are located in just two metro areas: New York City and Miami. And both of those markets carry median listing prices well north of $1 million.
Here’s how the top condo-heavy metros break down in Q4 2025:
New York-City-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ
- 6.2% of all new condos nationally
- $1,339,537 median listing price
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL
- 3.6%
- $1,666,283
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
- 3.5%
- $565,742
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA
- 4.0%
- $384,225
Raleigh-Cary, NC
- 2.6%
- $358,927
When a meaningful chunk of the national condo inventory sits in $1 million-plus markets, the national median skews higher. That’s what’s driving the headline inversion.
Now compare that to where new single-family homes are concentrated:
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX
- 6.1% of national new single-family homes
- $371,404 median listing price
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
- 5.6%
- $440,438
San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX
- 2.9%
- $332,497
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA
- 2.5%
- $510,364
Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ
- 2.3%
- $499,654
These are markets priced much closer to the national median. Builders are delivering detached product in places where affordability still works, and they’re doing it at scale.
That geographic mix is the real story. The condo segment looks expensive nationally because a large share of it sits in high-cost metros. The detached segment looks more competitive because it’s concentrated in growth markets with lower land costs and stronger entry-level demand.
