Six of the 10 best U.S. markets for buying a newly built home are in North Carolina or South Carolina, according to Realtor.com's 2026 Top New-Construction Metros report, which ranked the nation's 100 largest metros on the availability and relative price of new-construction listings, climate risk and buyer demand.
The top 10 are:
Charleston-North Charleston, S.C.
Greenville-Anderson-Greer, S.C.
Boise City, Idaho
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, N.C.-S.C.
Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tenn.
Chattanooga, Tenn.-Ga.
Winston-Salem, N.C.
Madison, Wis.
Durham-Chapel Hill, N.C.
Columbia, S.C.
The South has eight of the 10, a skew the report tied to cheaper, more readily available land and zoning and builder-friendly codes. Boise is the only Western metro on the list, Madison is the only Midwestern one, and the Northeast is absent entirely. Half of this year's top 10 also appeared on the 2025 list.
Read the full report here.
