In Charleston, S.C., roughly one in four homes for sale is newly built. In Greenville, it is closer to one in three. That puts the two South Carolina cities at the top of Realtor.com’s new ranking of metro areas for new construction in 2026.
Realtor.com published the list on Monday. Eight of the ten metros are in the South, and all eight of those are in North or South Carolina. Only Charlotte, N.C., and Nashville, Tenn., rank among the 50 largest U.S. cities.
The housing market is stalled, and new-home sales have been slow for two years. Even so, the leaders barely changed. Half of this year’s top 10 were also on the 2025 list, which Realtor.com called their “staying power.” It described the metros as “young, vibrant and growing,” and noted that almost all have a major research university or flagship school tied to the local economy.
How the list is built
The ranking weighs new-home availability, how new-home prices compare with existing homes, page views, resilience to floods and wildfires, and how long new homes sit before selling. New construction made up more than 25% of listings in every top-10 market, and more than a third in four of them.
“We know that in terms of the volume of new construction, the South leads the way, but this analysis proves that Southern metros also perform well in terms of pricing, sustainability and new construction demand,” the report said.
Prices and wildfire risk
New homes usually cost more than existing ones. Not everywhere on this list. In Charleston they were priced about 12% below existing homes, and in Greenville about 1.6% below. Boise, Idaho, in third place, had new builds about 4.5% cheaper, and new homes were more than half of all listings there.
Boise’s climate score, 6.1% relative to existing homes, kept it out of the top two. Much of its new building is on the western edge of the city, next to wilderness, where the report said wildfire risk is higher.
Charlotte and Nashville filled out the top five, with new homes about 5% pricier than existing ones. Chattanooga, Tenn., and Winston-Salem, N.C., came sixth and seventh, each with a 10% premium. Madison, Wis., was eighth at 12.5%. Durham, N.C., and Columbia, S.C., closed the list. Durham’s new homes cost more, Columbia’s less.
Time on the market
New homes across the ten metros sat for an average of 60 days, with a median of 62.5. Existing homes had a median of 29 days in July, according to the National Association of Realtors. Columbia was quickest at 45 days, and Madison slowest at 70.
Columbia also had the cheapest new-home median price on the list, $298,004. Its climate risk score of 7.1% compared with existing homes, again on wildfire risk, was higher than Boise’s.
