In the United States, the housing market has seen an increase in inventory for the 23rd consecutive month, leading to nearly 20% of sellers lowering their listing prices in September.
Realtor.com’s September Monthly Housing Trends Report, released on October 2nd, revealed that sellers of mid to lower-priced homes were most likely to reduce prices, while luxury home prices remained largely unchanged.
According to Danielle Hale, Chief Economist at Realtor.com, the trends in September indicate a shift towards a buyer’s market, driven by the growing housing inventory, longer listing times on the market, and more intense price competition.
This trend suggests that the housing market this fall may be more favorable to buyers compared to recent years.
Homes priced between $350,000 and $500,000 saw the highest percentage of price cuts at 21.6%, while homes priced over $1 million had a price reduction rate of 13.3%.
Regionally, the South had the highest percentage of price reductions at 21.1%, followed by the West at 20.9%, and the Midwest at 19.2%. In contrast, the Northeast had the lowest percentage of price cuts, accounting for only 14% of listings.
Major cities with the highest percentage of price cuts in September included Denver, Colorado at 30.7%, Portland, Oregon at 30.2%, and Indianapolis, Indiana at 29.7%.
September was a positive month for homebuyers, with national active listings rising by 17% compared to the same period in 2024. Additionally, the national market saw over one million homes for sale for the fifth consecutive month. However, the report highlighted that national housing inventory remains nearly 14% lower than normal levels from 2017 to 2019.
Inventory increased in all four regions, with the West seeing a 21.1% year-over-year growth, the South at 17.9%, the Midwest at 13.2%, and the Northeast at 10.1%.
Realtor.com’s analysis also showed that in the 50 largest markets in the U.S., 10 markets had inventory levels at least 25% higher than pre-pandemic levels, all located in the South or West regions.
Cities with the strongest inventory growth included Denver, Colorado with a 59.6% increase, while San Antonio and Austin, Texas saw increases of 49.6% and 46.9% respectively. Cities with the smallest inventory growth included Hartford, Connecticut, Chicago, Illinois, and Providence, Rhode Island.
Despite the increase in available homes for sale, new listings in September were slightly down by 1.2% compared to the same period last year, a noticeable contrast to the 7.3% growth in August.
The Midwest led the nation in new listings with a 2.4% year-over-year increase, followed by the Northeast at 1.3%. The South and West saw declines of 3.5% and 0.1% respectively in new listings.
According to Realtor.com data, the national median home price held steady at $425,000 in September, a 1.2% increase from August.
The report indicated that while home prices have stabilized in the short term, their long-term growth will continue to impact affordability for buyers. Since August 2019, the average listing price has risen by 36%, and the price per square foot has increased by 50.6%, posing ongoing cost pressures for buyers.
In September, the average listing time for homes in the market extended by about a week compared to the same period last year, with a median of 62 days, and all four regions saw an increase in selling time.
Two major metropolitan areas in California still have the highest home prices in the country: the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metropolitan area with a median home price of $1.36 million and the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metropolitan area at $1.09 million in September.
Among the 50 major metropolitan areas in the U.S., only a few areas had median home prices below $300,000, including St. Louis, Missouri and Birmingham, Alabama at $299,000, Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, Michigan at $275,000, Cleveland, Ohio at $259,900, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at $254,950.