Slim pickings begone

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Published Date 6/30/2025

At last. Your agent is telling you that she can line up more than one or two listings for you to tour in a day. Why? Fresh listings are there for the taking, with actual time to make a decision because of a slower pace of activity after what seems like an unending sellers’ market.

While it’s not time yet for glass-half-full or full house analogies, according to Realtor.com’s Snejana Farberov, things are gradually looking up after a sluggish spring season, citing more than one million for-sale homes on the market across the U.S. 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.

It’s important not to misinterpret, however. Major affordability challenges exist and persist, driven in part by mortgage rates stuck in the mud with no tow truck in sight to pull them out, now that the Feds announced they planned to keep rates steady for the foreseeable future.

With new listings ticking up, however (increasing 3.5% from a year ago) buyers stand to gain some negotiating power over the summer months, according to Realtor’s economist Jiyai Xu. "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.

Farberov reports that the overall number of for-sale homes was up 27.5% year over year, marking the 85th straight week of annual gains in inventory.To boot, for the eighth consecutive week, there were more than 1 million listings available nationwide, marking the highest inventory level since December 2019.

Xu is careful to report that while choices for consumers have expanded, overall supply remains well below pre-pandemic levels, especially in the Midwest and Northeast, where new development has been stagnant while demand remains high. Southern metros? They now exceed pre-COVID inventory levels, fueled by faster new construction over the past several years.

“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,” says Farberov. “The median listing price per square foot—which adjusts for changes in home size—rose 0.7% year over year.”

Xu adds, ”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.” He also reports that 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.

While the typical listing lingered unsold for 53 days last week (about the same as six years ago), it’s interesting to note that (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. No one is talking about seeing that number again anytime soon, but the rule usually says that the longer homes remain unsold, the more likely price drops will result. Time to see if that rule holds water.

Realtor, TBWS

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American Home Lending USA, LLC - NMLS ID: 71983. To verify licensing, visit NMLS Consumer Access (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org). Equal Housing Lender.

Jeff Beck

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American Home Lending USA, LLC

240 S Buchanan St, Edwardsville IL 62025

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