Surviving and Thriving in 2026
By Rick Tobin
As we kick off the new year here in 2026, many of us wonder if this year will be stronger or weaker and whether or not this will be more of a buyer’ s market than a seller’ s market. Either way, there will be success if we focus more on the potential solutions and opportunities more so than the temporary obstacles standing in our way.
Prices for goods, services, or assets like homes can be simplified by way of the Law of Supply and Demand as I learned in past Economics courses that I took as a student and later wrote as an author.
When supply exceeds demand, prices tend to value. Conversely, increasing demand and decreasing supply usually cause prices to rise.
Let’ s review some factors that may cause home prices to be flat or drop here in 2026:
Concerning Housing and Economic Trends
1. As of Q4 2025, US home sellers or listed homes outnumbered buyers by 530,000, which was an alltime record high. This is partly due to home prices being at or near alltime record highs in most US regions, while making housing costs more unaffordable.
For example, the US home pricetomedian household income ratio is close to 7.0x, near an alltime high. For comparison purposes, the 2006 housing
bubble price peak was 6.8x.
The difference between the median US home price($ 426,800) and household income($ 83,700) reached $ 343,100 in Q4 2025, which was the largest gap in history as per Barchart.
2. US homebuyer demand is near the lowest level on record primarily due to how unaffordable payments and home prices are across the nation. The typical homebuyer needs to pay 39 % of their gross income in order to afford to purchase a home. Sales demand
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