REALTOR® News

March 2026 Housing Stats

by Jacky Mueck Housing Stats 0 0 Comment 22

More Buyers, Fewer Homes:
Maryland Market Tightens in March
Demand is there, but lack of listings and policy inaction limit sales activity

ANNAPOLIS, MD — April 13, 2026—Home sales in Maryland fell 4.4 percent to 4,874 units in March compared to a year ago, even as prices continued to rise. The average sales price increased 4.9 percent to $513,997, while the median price rose 1.6 percent to $430,000.

Pending sales (homes under contract but not yet closed) rose 8.7 percent, signaling renewed buyer activity heading into the spring market. However, this demand is running headfirst into a shrinking supply of homes. Active inventory declined 21.7 percent, and new listings dropped 24.6 percent compared to last year.

National housing data shows that while inventory remains below pre-pandemic norms, it is gradually improving, with active listings up roughly 8–10 percent year-over-year, according to Realtor.com and other industry sources. In contrast, Maryland’s inventory continues to decline, indicating the state is more supply-constrained than the broader U.S. market.

“Buyers are clearly coming back into the market, but the supply simply isn’t there,” said Denise Lewis, 2026 President of Maryland REALTORS®. “Pending sales are up, but without more homes to buy, that demand can’t fully translate into closed sales.”

Lewis said the ongoing shortage of listings continues to put upward pressure on prices and limit opportunities for buyers.

“This is a supply problem, plain and simple,” Lewis said. “Until we see more homeowners listing and more homes being built, affordability will remain a challenge and sales will remain constrained.”

Lewis pointed to long-standing policy barriers that continue to limit housing production across the state. “For years, local restrictions and a lack of political will have made it harder to build the housing Marylanders need,” she said. “And unfortunately, we’re seeing that continue in Annapolis, to the detriment of Maryland voters.”

While the General Assembly appears poised to pass the Housing Certainty Act (HB 548 / SB 325) and transit-oriented development legislation (HB 894 / SB 389), Lewis said lawmakers have failed to fully address the state’s housing shortage.

“Legislators are taking incremental steps forward, but still falling short where it matters most,” Lewis said. “They’re advancing some helpful measures, but they chickened out on the Starter and Silver Homes Act (HB 239/SB 36)—which would have created more attainable housing options—and turned the Bring Back Main Street initiative (HB 1137 / SB 829) into yet another study.”

Lewis added that Maryland voters are looking for action, not delays. “We don’t need more studies—we need more homes,” she said. “Ignoring practical solutions and yielding to local government obstruction only makes the problem worse. If we’re serious about affordability, we must be serious about increasing supply.”

Spring 2026 Forecast from the Sage Policy Group

Maryland home sales were down 4.4% year over year in March 2026, a disappointing—albeit understandable—decline. While mortgage rates are down substantially from a year ago, they rose sharply over the past month, surging from an average of 5.98% for a 30-year fixed rate during the week ending February 26th to 6.46% by the first week of April.

This precipitous increase in rates was caused by the conflict in Iran and the resulting rise in Treasury yields. While rates fell slightly during the second week of April, down to an average of 6.37%, it is unlikely that sub-6.0% rates will be seen again anytime soon; the simultaneous acceleration in both observed and expected inflation will continue to put upward pressure on borrowing costs.

“Of course, that’s not the only way the Iran conflict has harmed the housing market,” said Anirban Basu, Chair of the Sage Policy Group. “The recent and rapid rise in oil and gas prices has already taken money out of consumers’ pockets. Just as damaging as the actual cost is the effect on consumer confidence, which is down 9% year over year according to the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index.” Long-term, more severe impacts will emerge from higher diesel prices, which have risen at an even faster pace and will put upward pressure on a broad range of prices.

While these broader macroeconomic and geopolitical factors will weigh on demand, Maryland’s supply dynamics represent another cause for concern. New listings are down significantly from one year ago, and that has put upward pressure on home prices, with average and median selling prices up 4.9% and 1.6% year over year, respectively.

“Maryland’s economy also remains weaker than the nation at large,” added Basu. “The state has added jobs in just two of the past eight months, and total employment is down by nearly 50,000 over the past year. That has caused the state’s unemployment rate to rise to 4.3%, up more than 2 percentage points from the 2023 all-time low—and this has been compounded by a sharp decline in the state’s labor force, which has shrunk by over 25,000 people over the past year.”

That’s the bad news, and while there’s a lot of it, there are also a few reasons for optimism. Pending sales are up nearly 9% from March 2025, and that bodes well for sales over the next few months. The lock-in effect of low fixed rate mortgages is also fading, and that should eventually bolster inventory levels. A timely resolution to the conflict in Iran would greatly improve the economic outlook for the remainder of the year, bolstering homebuying activity both in Maryland and across the rest of the country.

“Ultimately, it appears that broader economic factors may rain on the spring selling season yet again in 2026,” Basu said.