National home prices declined 0.1% on a monthly basis in April, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the second monthly decline in 2026.

Posting 2% annual growth in April, home prices also moderated notably from the 3.3% yearly increase recorded the previous year.

For historical context, prices rose 15.7% annually in April 2021, followed by 18.8% growth in April 2022, according to FHFA data. That translated to 1.8% and 1.6% monthly price increases in April over those respective years.

Nine states posted annual price declines in the fourth quarter, followed by eight states and Washington, D.C., in the first quarter of 2026, according to the FHFA.

In the middle of the spring home sales season, Tuesday’s data from the conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac suggests a broad home price softening trend that began in the second half of 2024 has legs, as pandemic-era market distortions continue to play out.

Home purchase demand has been slow but stronger than last year this spring, hurt by high home prices and mortgage affordability that has worsened since the Iran war began in late February. Homeowners insurance and property taxes have also reset higher in recent years, pushing mortgage affordability structurally lower across monthly payment equations.

A global energy and trade shock stemming from the war has caused inflation to reaccelerate, eroding real wage gains and consumer confidence, while sending mortgage rates sharply higher.

Amid a range of affordability pressures fueling lackluster purchase demand, Redfin says half of sellers gave concessions to buyers in May, including but not limited to price reductions. That’s the highest seller-concession share ever in Redfin’s tracking and signals how, outside of supply-constrained metros, affordability pressures are gradually easing conditions for buyers.

Among the nine census divisions across which the FHFA tracks price changes, the Mountain, East South Central and Pacific divisions experienced the sharpest monthly drops at 0.8%, 0.5% and 0.3%, respectively.

While the East North Central and South Atlantic divisions also recorded monthly declines, East North Central states — including Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio — led the country in annual price growth at 4.4%. New England saw the largest monthly gains at 1% growth from April and second-largest yearly gains at 4.2%.

No census divisions posted annual declines in April. The Pacific and Mountain divisions posted the lowest annual growth rates at 0.2% and 0.5%.

The sharpest year-over-year swing in price momentum, however, occurred in the Middle Atlantic census division, where annual growth of 7.1% last April eased to historically typical 3.5% growth this year. Gains of 4.1% in the East South Central region a year ago fell to 1.6% in April.