5 cities where buying new is cheaper than buying resale
In 2025, the long-held belief that new homes are pricier than resale ones no longer holds true. In many markets, prospective buyers no longer need to spend more to reap the benefits of a new home, such as modern layouts, greater energy efficiency, and reduced maintenance costs.
For the past four months, new homes have been more affordable than resale homes, according to data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the U.S. Census Bureau, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and NewHomeSource parent company Zonda. The most recent data from July indicates new homes were priced 5.8% below existing homes.
Related: Regional Housing Market Trends 2025: Why Buying a New Home Is Easier in Some Areas
As a bonus for buyers, builders are increasingly incentivizing the purchase of a new home with mortgage rate buydowns, closing cost coverage, design credits, or upgrades, NewHomeSource reports..
To analyze how the new versus existing pricing trends are playing out on the ground, Zonda analyzed closing data from the top 50 housing markets. The results reveal where new homes carry a discount and how these gaps compare to historical patterns.
Related: Prices Dip as Frustrated Buyers Wait Out High Rates, Tariff Confusion
Where New Homes Carry a Discount
Nearly a quarter of the top 50 markets are flipping conventional pricing patterns and offering a new home discount for buyers. While the data is unadjusted — not accounting for home size, quality, age of resale home, or location — there are still real saving opportunities for buyers:
Naples, Florida, has the steepest discount, with new homes priced 16.5% below resale homes.
San Jose (-15.5%) and San Francisco (-13.3%) posted some of the widest discounts nationally. Given the high price points in these California markets, these gaps translate into the largest dollar savings, with new homes being priced $264,000 and $141,500 below resale homes, respectively.
Mountain West markets Provo, Utah (-8.1%), Fort Collins, Colorado (-6%), and Salt Lake City (-4.1%) all saw price discounts. In Provo and Fort Collins, these home discounts align with increased competition due to rising new-home community counts in the markets.
Austin, once one of the hottest markets, continues to soften. New homes in the market recorded a 3.2% discount, reflecting weaker demand and affordability challenges.
Carolina markets Raleigh (-4%), Durham (-2.6%), and Charleston (-1%) represent a concentrated hub where new homes are discounted. The Carolinas are becoming popular housing markets for retirees, young professionals, and young families
Historical Shifts
Looking at different timeframes highlights how market dynamics can shift. A narrowing or widening spread between new and existing home prices can offer insight on the age of a housing stock and competitive supply within a market.
Related: Is 2025 the Time to Buy a Home? What History Tells Us About Prices, Demand, and Leverage
Compared to the same month in 2024, just two markets (Washington, D.C., and Salt Lake City) flipped from a new home premium to a new home discount. Over half of the 50 largest markets saw their new home premium shrink.
For the 36 markets that recorded new home premiums in both 2019 and 2025, more than a quarter saw the premium compress by over 25%.
What It Means for Buyers
In today’s market, it pays to check market-level data. Buyers who previously ruled out new construction due to price may be surprised by what’s now available. Between price cuts and builder incentives, new homes might just offer a deal compared to an existing home.
In many cases, new homes with the best deals are quick move-in (QMI) homes, which offer similar move-in timelines to resale homes.
This story was produced by NewHomeSource and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
