Report: Mortgage Payments Down, Inventory Up as Housing Fights Against High Rates

Despite mortgage rates remaining elevated due to ongoing economic pressures stemming from the Middle Eastern conflict, the market continues to paint a picture of resilience as this spring sees many signs grow historically better.

Zillow’s May Market Report saw monthly mortgage payments on a typical home (currently valued at $368,720) clock in at $1,861 (assuming a 20% down payment and excluding taxes and insurance). While a rise of 1.1% from April into May, this is down 3.1% year-over-year as mortgage rates remain historically lower than previous springs.

Recent data from the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) has also noted marginal improvements in affordability. NAR’s latest Housing Affordability Index registered at 105.6 in May, up from 97.5 one year ago, and all four regions saw affordability growth: the Northeast was up 5.1%, the Midwest was up 6.6%, the South was up 8.4% and the West was up 11%.

Also in line with this trend, home-price growth has been seeing sincere deceleration throughout 2026 so far, with the latest Case-Shiller report registering a fall month-over-month rather than the typical increase.

In addition, Zillow found active inventory rose 4.6% month-over-month and 1% year-over-year to 1.36 million homes for sale in May. 

Double-digit year-over-year inventory growth was seen in a whopping 13 of the 50 largest metros, including Louisville, Kentucky (+21.3%); Minneapolis, Minnesota (+18.2%); Cincinnati, Ohio (+16.5%); Memphis, Tennessee (+16%); Seattle, Washington (+14.9%); Buffalo, New York (+14.2%); Raleigh, North Carolina (+14.1%); Cleveland, Ohio (+13.3%); Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (+12.9%); Indianapolis, Indiana (+12.7%); Boston, Massachusetts (+10.6%); Nashville, Tennessee (+10.5%); and Charlotte, North Carolina (+10.5%).

This is also in line with recent NAR data, which has seen existing home inventory grow for the past four consecutive months.

Sales have also been a bit up and down as of late, but Zillow’s data saw a 4.8% rise month-over-month to 341,929 homes sold in May. However, in line with the flip-flopping trend mentioned, this figure is down 2.9% year-over-year.

The largest year-over-year sales growth was in Salt Lake City, Utah (+10.8%); Austin, Texas (+10.7%); Louisville, Kentucky (+7.5%); Columbus, Ohio (+7.9%); and Memphis, Tennessee (+7.0%).