New homes still cost less than resales in many U.S. markets

Buying a newly built home still costs less per square foot than purchasing an existing home nationwide, as a pandemic-era construction boom and heightened inventory push builders to drop prices and offer incentives, according to a new Zillow analysis. Zillow found that, as of July 2026, new homes sold for a national median of $205 per square foot, below the $212 median for existing homes. That marks a sharp reversal from prior years, when new construction usually commanded a premium. From 2018 to 2024, new homes sold for more per square foot than existing homes in 77 of 84 months, with the new-construction premium peaking at an additional $25 per square foot in November 2022, Zillow said. However, that trend reversed over the past 19 months. Since then, new homes have sold at a discount to existing homes for 17 months. The steepest discount so far came in June 2026, at $12 per square foot. The shift is also evident in sales prices. As of August, the median new home sales price was $393,700, close to a five-year low and down from a Q4 2022 peak of $442,600. Meanwhile, according to the National Association of Realtors, the median sales price of existing homes was $429,100 in August. ...