CHARLOTTE — Charlotte continues to gain national attention for its stock of new homes.
The Charlotte metro for a second straight year has been deemed a top place for new-home construction by Realtor.com. It lands at No. 4 in the 2026 Top New-Construction Metros report, up from No. 9 last year.
The report identifies the 10 U.S. markets that provide the best mix of availability, affordability, sustainability and desirability for new homes. The same criteria was used both years.
Realtor.com assigns the following weight to these four metrics: new-construction share of listings, 33%; the percentage difference between median new-build and median existing-home list prices, 33%; the percentage difference in average flood, fire, air quality, wind and heat risk between new builds and existing homes, 17%; and hotness of new-construction market, based on page views per listing and median time on market for new builds, 17%.
Charlotte, the largest metro on this year’s list, is propelled to a top-five rank by its new-construction inventory and relative price of those listings. New builds account for 29.5% of the metro’s for-sale listings and are priced slightly higher ( $440,177) than existing homes ($420,383), Realtor.com’s data shows.
The Charlotte metro has a climate risk for new homes of just 0.3% over existing homes. Charlotte’s hotness factor, however, trails several markets on the list and pulls down its overall score. New homes here garner 1.5% of page views per listing versus the national average and spend 65 days on the market.
The report lists 28078 in Huntersville, 29745 in York and 29720 in Lancaster as local ZIP codes with some of the most new-construction listings, but notes that strong activity is seen across city limits — including pockets such as 28206.
The Charlotte area’s ongoing population growth has been a draw for new developers and builders. Alabama-based Davidson Homebuilders, for instance, recently entered the local scene with four communities in the works in Belmont, Mooresville, Davidson and north Charlotte.
That’s as the region’s largest homebuilders adapt to changing market conditions such as more balance between supply and demand, cautious buyers and growing infrastructure limitations. Those factors are leading them to build more densely closer to the city or expanding farther into the region.
Charlotte joins five other metros in the Carolinas on Realtor.com’s list.
The metros of Charleston and Greenville, South Carolina, rank at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. Winston-Salem clocks in at No. 7, with Durham-Chapel Hill at No. 9. Columbia, South Carolina, rounds out the ranking at No. 10.
Greenville also repeats on this year’s list, ranking at No. 7 in 2025. Raleigh-Cary, which landed at No. 10 last year, earns an honorable mention this year as does Greensboro-High Point.
Of the top 10 metros included in the 2026 report, eight are located in the Southeast. Realtor.com points out that land is more readily available and less costly in the South, where zoning and building codes are also typically more builder-friendly.
The full ranking is listed here:
- Charleston-North Charleston
- Greenville-Anderson-Greer
- Boise City, Idaho
- Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia
- Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tennessee
- Chattanooga, Tennessee-Georgia
- Winston-Salem
- Madison, Wisconsin
- Durham-Chapel Hill
- Columbia
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