11 cities where home prices are falling — the steepest drop will shock you

Mortgage rates might remain stubbornly high, but home prices seem to be leveling off—and are already falling in certain cities.

Home prices reached a median of $442,500 in May, according to a Realtor.com® report.

That price is “relatively stable compared to the same time last year, when it was $441,000,” notes Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale in her analysis.

Among America’s 50 biggest cities, 20 show annual price declines since last year, and the metro with the steepest drop might surprise you: In Miami, the median home price plummeted 11.2% from a year earlier, to $439,000.

Whether any of these softening prices will result in lower housing payments is unclear. Mortgage rates are so high, they’ve pushed up median monthly payments nationwide by 7.1%.

“Higher mortgage rates compared with last May still increased the monthly cost of financing 80% of the median home by roughly $158 compared with a year ago,” Hale says. “This increased the required household income to purchase the median-priced home by $6,400, to $119,700, after also accounting for the cost of tax and insurance.”

So, while homebuyers might still have to cough up more cash now than in the past for the typical home, they can nonetheless temper this load by targeting the right cities where prices are heading south.

Here are the top 11 markets to home in on where deals might be hiding.