The U.S. median home price hit a record high—here's what it would cost you per month
In June, the median price for an existing home in the U.S. reached a record high of $435,300, according to the National Association of Realtors. That's up 2% from a year ago and marks the 24th straight month of annual price growth.
While more homes are being built, "multiple years of undersupply are driving the record high home price," says Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist, in a blog post about the data. "Home construction continues to lag population growth."
Rising prices, combined with mortgage rates above 6.5%, have pushed many buyers out of the market, says Yun. Homeowners are also reluctant to sell, since just over half of them have mortgage rates under 4%, per NAR.
As a result, home sales in the last two years have fallen to their lowest sustained levels since the early 2010s.
Even so, limited inventory and continued demand from more affluent buyers — many of whom can pay in cash — have kept prices climbing.
If you buy a median-priced home with a 20% down payment and a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at 6.81% — the average rate, per Mortgage News Daily — your monthly mortgage payment alone will be about $2,273.
That's $139 more than in January, when the median home price was $396,900 and average rates were slightly higher, averaging around 7.1%. Back then, the monthly mortgage payment would have been about $2,134.
Of course, not everyone pays the median home price or qualifies for the same rate, so it helps to run the numbers with a tool like the CNBC Make It mortgage calculator.
It's also important to consider the cost of property taxes and homeowners insurance, which vary widely by location. These can be around 1% of the total mortgage cost per year, which can add hundreds of dollars to monthly payments for a median-price home.
Unfortunately for buyers, mortgage rates aren't expected to fall much in 2025 — and with limited supply keeping prices elevated, high monthly costs may be the norm for a while.
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