As summer kicks into high gear, buyers considering coming off the sidelines and dipping their toes into the housing market are likely to find the conditions shifting in their favor, with more fresh listings to choose from and a slower pace of activity, allowing for more time to make a decision.
For prospective homebuyers, things are gradually looking up after a sluggish spring season, considering there are now more than one million for-sale homes on the market across the U.S.
In another bit of welcome news, buyer confidence in the U.S. housing market has been on an upward trajectory, boosted by better-than-expected job and inflation reports.
However, major affordability challenges persist, driven in part by elevated mortgage interest rates stuck in the high-6% range, with no immediate relief in sight in light of the Federal Reserve's decision last week to keep rates steady for the foreseeable future.
Buyers offered more options as fresh listings rise
New listings ticked up last week, increasing 3.5% from a year ago and signaling that aspiring buyers stand to gain some negotiating power over the summer months, says Realtor.com® economist Jiyai Xu.
Yet the growth rate of new listings slowed compared to the previous week and remained below the year-to-date pace for the fourth consecutive week, according to the latest Weekly Housing Market Update.
"This will be an important trend to watch, especially as regional real estate dynamics diverge and the market gradually shifts back in favor of buyers," notes Xu.
The overall number of for-sale homes was up 27.5% year over year. This marks the 85th straight week of annual gains in inventory.
On top of that, for the eighth consecutive week, there were more than 1 million listings available nationwide, marking the highest inventory level since December 2019.
But Xu points out that while choices for consumers have expanded, overall supply remains well below pre-pandemic norms, especially in the hottest markets in the Midwest and Northeast, where new development has been stagnant while demand remained high.
On the other hand, nearly all major Southern metros now exceed pre-COVID inventory levels, fueled by faster new construction over the past several years.
Home prices tick up but selling pace slows
The price of the typical home increased again last week, edging up 0.9% from a year ago—but it was still down 0.3% from the beginning of 2025.
The median listing price per square foot—which adjusts for changes in home size—rose 0.7% year over year.
"With inventory growing, and 1 in 5 sellers slashing prices, the pendulum is swinging back toward a balanced market, as price growth slows and buyers gain more leverage," says Xu.
Homes spent five days longer than a year ago waiting for a buyer to come along and close the deal, signaling that the pace of the housing market continued to ease annually.
The typical listing lingered unsold for 53 days last week, about the same as six years ago. For context, when America's housing stock was at its lowest in the spring of 2022, median time on market was as low as 28 days.
Read more at Realtor.com
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