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Entry-level buyers may have more breathing room than during the worst of the crunch, but the affordable-listing gap is still big enough to affect preapprovals, timelines, and borrower expectations.
Starter home inventory remains well below pre-pandemic levels even though the worst of the starter-home crunch appears to have passed, according to a Realtor.com Research report published August 11, 2026. The report says there are roughly 300,000 fewer affordable listings on the market today than before the pandemic.
That gap matters for mortgage professionals because entry-level buyers can still face a thin set of homes that fit both price and payment, even if broader inventory conditions have improved. The report, titled “Data Centers and the American Housing Market,” also points to the growing relevance of data centers in housing-market discussions, though the supplied material does not confirm the report’s specific data-center findings.