Are New Homes Cheaper Than Resales? Nationally Yes, in South Florida No

Last updated September 29, 2026

Published by Gia Freer, Broker of Record, PBP Real Estate, LLC · Florida broker license BK689801

In the United States a newly built house now sells for less than the typical existing home: $393,700 against $429,100 in August 2026, and the new-house median has been below the resale median in 9 of the last 13 months. In South Florida the MLS record shows the opposite: new-construction houses that closed through BeachesMLS carried a median of $626,618 across the five counties, and in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade roughly twice the resale median. The exception is the Treasure Coast, where new houses in St. Lucie and Martin counties are priced within reach of the resale market and, per square foot, match or undercut it.

Are new houses cheaper than existing homes in the United States right now?

Yes, by $35,400 at the median in August 2026. The Census Bureau and HUD report the median sales price of new houses sold at $393,700. The National Association of Realtors reports the median existing-home sales price at $429,100. That is an inversion of the normal order: for decades the new-house median sat well above the resale median, and it peaked at $460,300 in October 2022. The usual explanations offered by builders and their trade groups are smaller floor plans, more attached and entry-level product, and rate buydowns and closing-cost incentives that a resale seller cannot match. Whatever the weight of each, the price-point result is what a buyer comparing a builder's model with a resale sees.

The two series are not a like-for-like comparison. The Census median covers houses only and skews toward the South and West where most building happens; the NAR median covers houses, condominiums and co-ops nationwide. Both are medians of whatever sold that month, so a change in the mix moves them as much as a change in price. Read the chart as a price-point story, which is what a buyer choosing between a builder's model and a resale sees, not as a statement that a new house is worth less than an old one.

National averages mislead in South Florida on overall prices too: statewide Florida has trailed the US over the past year while South Florida houses remain far ahead since 2020, as the indices in Florida home prices vs the US show.

Does the same hold in the South?

Yes, as of the second quarter of 2026. The Census Bureau publishes regional new-house medians quarterly. For the South region the second-quarter 2026 median was $362,500. The National Association of Realtors' monthly existing-home medians for the South averaged $373,300 over April, May and June 2026 ($366,900, $373,800, $379,200). In the first quarter the order was still the traditional one, with new houses above resales, so the Southern crossover is recent. A quarterly median and an average of three monthly medians are close cousins, not the same statistic, which is why we round the comparison.

What do South Florida closed sales show for new houses versus resales?

The opposite of the national picture. We took every house that closed through BeachesMLS in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties from January 2025 through August 2026 and split it by the listing's new-construction flag. Houses only, by tax legal description; condominiums, townhouses and villas are separate markets and are not in these figures.

Three things stand out. First, in the three large counties a new house that trades through the MLS is a different product from the typical resale: the median new house is 2,350 square feet against 1,878 for resales, and it sits on land that already carries a South Florida price. Second, new construction is a small slice of the MLS record here, 5.2% of house closings across the five counties, against 17.8% in St. Lucie County where builders are still opening subdivisions. Third, the per-square-foot column is where the Treasure Coast separates from the rest: in St. Lucie a new house and a resale cost about the same per square foot, and in Martin the new house costs less.

Why is South Florida different from the national pattern?

Land, and what gets listed. Most new houses in the United States are sold where land is cheap: the Census South region, which runs from Texas to Delaware and includes Florida, accounted for 62% of new houses sold in the first eight months of 2026. Coastal South Florida has almost no raw land left south of Martin County. New houses here are teardowns and rebuilds on existing lots, infill in established neighborhoods, and custom homes in country-club and waterfront communities. The cities with the most new-construction closings in the MLS tell the story: in Palm Beach County they are Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton and Delray Beach; in Broward, Fort Lauderdale; in Miami-Dade, the City of Miami first and Homestead and Florida City behind it.

The second reason is a measurement point that matters for anyone using these numbers. Production builders sell most of their homes from their own sales centers, and many of those closings never enter the MLS. Where they do, as in Port St. Lucie and Fort Pierce, the county figures look more like the national ones. Where they do not, the MLS new-construction sample skews to the high end. Our figures describe the new houses that traded through BeachesMLS, not every new house sold in the county; the Census Bureau's national series counts builder sales directly and the two are not comparable one for one.

What does this mean if you are selling a resale house?

It depends on which county your house is in.

• Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade. A new house in the MLS is generally not the buyer's alternative to your resale; it is a different price tier. The buyer weighing your house is weighing other resales, so the comparisons that matter are the ones on our county pages: closed price against original and final asking price, months of supply and the share of active houses that have already cut their price. If your house sits in a neighborhood with active teardown activity, the land under it is part of the conversation, and that is a street-by-street question.
• St. Lucie. The buyer for a resale house in Port St. Lucie or Fort Pierce can walk into a builder's model at roughly the same price per square foot, often with a rate buydown or closing-cost credit attached. A resale that is priced as if that alternative did not exist will be measured against it. Condition, lot and location decide the rest.
• Martin. New houses in Stuart, Palm City and Indiantown closed at a median close to the resale median and below it per square foot. Resale sellers there face the same competition as in St. Lucie, at a smaller scale.

None of this is an opinion of value for a particular house. It describes the market a house will be sold into. Pricing a specific house means reading its street, its condition and what is for sale against it, which is work a person does with the property in front of them.

How we counted

National and regional figures. Median sales price of new houses sold: U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, New Residential Sales, monthly (FRED series MSPNHSUS) and Table Q6 quarterly by region. Median sales price of existing homes: National Association of Realtors, Existing-Home Sales, monthly, national (FRED series HOSMEDUSM052N) and South region (HOSMEDUSSOM052N). Retrieved 2026-09-29. Not seasonally adjusted. The Census Bureau revises the most recent three months; the August 2026 figure is preliminary. FRED carries only the most recent thirteen months of the NAR series, which sets the chart's window.

South Florida figures. Closed residential sales from BeachesMLS via our direct data feed, five counties, close dates January 1, 2025 through August 31, 2026 (136,113 closings of all property types in the window). September 2026 is excluded because closings are still being reported. Houses are identified by the tax legal description under the same bucket rule as our other data pages; condominiums, townhouses and villas are excluded. New construction is the listing's new-construction flag as entered by the listing agent; a second cut that also counts any house built in the year of sale or the year before gives the same picture (see the table note). Medians are of closed price; price per square foot uses living area where recorded. We publish a county figure only where both groups have at least 30 sales. The feed is limited to listings permitted for internet display, so the figures describe those listings, not every sale in the county. This is a market statistic, not an opinion of value for any property. AI assists the research and the assembly; a licensed broker authors every figure; no automated estimate.

Source: closed residential sales in five South Florida counties, January 2025 to August 2026, listed in BeachesMLS and permitted for internet display through PBP Real Estate's data feed. PBP Real Estate, LLC is a South Florida brokerage and housing-data publisher.