Housing inventory saw a big increase in June, as the number of homes actively for sale grew for an eighth straight month and increased 36.7% year-over-year, according to new data from Realtor.com®.
Realtor.com’s Monthly Housing Trends Report for June found that new listings increased 6.3%, but were down 24.4% from 2019. In addition, the median listing price saw no change year-over-year at $445,000, and was up 39.1% from 2019. Median days on the market grew by two days to 45, down eight days from 2019. The share of active listings with price reductions rose by 4.2 percentage points to 18.3%, up 1.3 percentage points from 2019.
“While the quantity of homes on the market still trails pre-pandemic levels, homebuyers are seeing more options to choose from as inventory increases,” said Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale. “The combination of more for-sale homes and longer time on the market is beneficial for home shoppers as they have more selection and don’t need to feel as rushed in picking a place to call home. Whether this translates into more home sales will likely hinge on how mortgage rates impact affordability in the second half of the year.”
All four regions saw inventory increases over the previous year. The South and the West led the way in this growth spurt, at an inventory increase of 48.7% and 36.5%, respectively. The Midwest (21%) and Northeast (11.8%) followed behind. In addition, a few southern metros—Austin (+41.3%), San Antonio (+24.1%) and Memphis (+22.3%)—have higher inventory compared to their pre-pandemic levels, while most of the country does not.
List prices are on the rise in the Northeast (+5.9%), Midwest (3%) and West (+1.3%) compared to 2023. Among large metros, the median list price in Cleveland (+15.7%), Philadelphia (+12.8%) and Providence (+9.0%) saw the biggest increases. However, the South saw a price fall of 1.9% compared to last year, most likely due to larger inventory growth.
All regions are still seeing time on the market below pre-pandemic levels. The region closest to its past levels is the West, where time on the market is only one day less than the typical June from 2017 to 2019. Time on the market was still significantly lower for the rest of the regions, including the South (-8 days), the Midwest (-10 days) and the Northeast (-15 days).
“Despite some slightly more buyer-friendly signs, sellers are still engaged and more homes are being listed compared to a year ago,” said Ralph McLaughlin, senior economist for Realtor.com. “While sellers are responding to market signals by cutting prices more frequently, data suggests they aren’t calling it quits and pulling their homes off of the market. Despite these cuts, price growth is hanging around at high enough rates to keep sellers in the game.”
For the full report, visit https://www.realtor.com/research/june-2024-data/.
