Inventory Is Picking Up, but Are Homebuyers Responding?

In March 2025, new home listings reached the biggest March jump since 2022 with a 10.2% year-over-year rise, according to Realtor.com®. Active listings (meaning all listings available for sale) are up 28.5% year-over-year—marking the 17th consecutive month for inventory growth in the U.S. 

Yet, as inventory has gone up, not only has price growth slowed, so have pending home sales, per the latest Realtor.com data. Pending sales dropped annually by 5.2% in major metro areas.

The national median listing price in March 2025 was $424,900, unchanged year-over-year. Median list price per square footage was up 1.3% year-over-year. Listings also spent a median of three more days on the market (for a median of 53 days) compared to March 2024. This is the 12th month where homes have taken longer to sell than the preceding month.

“The high cost of buying coupled with growing economic concerns suggest a sluggish response from buyers in early spring. We’re seeing a market that’s rebalancing, offering more choices for shoppers,” said Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale in a press release, adding that competitive pricing will be key for current sellers.

The report suggests that overall economic uncertainty is giving buyers caution.

“Recent improvements in mortgage rates bode well for the later spring and early-summer housing season, as long as economic concerns settle and don’t knock buyers off course,” said Hale.

President Donald Trump’s latest round of tariffs could be the factor that prevents consumers’ economic concerns from settling, due to inflationary pressure on consumer goods.

“Mortgage rates are going down at the moment. However, when the higher costs of goods start to push up the rate of inflation, it is quite possible that rates will go back up. I expect to be on a mortgage rate rollercoaster for the next few months,” was the forecast of Melissa Cohn, regional vice president of William Raveis Mortgage, in an email sent about the tariffs’ impact. 

Based on this report, the housing market is still more difficult for buyers compared to pre-pandemic numbers. Median prices increased by 38.9% from March 2019 to March 2025, with median list price per square footage jumping 54.7%. Conversely, active listings are down 20% in March 2025 compared to March 2019—new listings are down 8.8%. Homes are also spending 12 fewer days on the market compared to March 2019.

The one mostly unchanged statistic, comparing March 2025 to both 2024 and 2019, is the share of active listings with price reductions. In March 2025, that was 17.5%, 2.5% higher than both the previous year and pre-pandemic.

Regional breakdown of prices

Year-over-year, the Northeast was the only one of the four major U.S. census regions that experienced an annual median listing price gain (0.9%). Median listing prices dropped in both the South (by 0.6%) and the Midwest (by 1.6%), while remaining unchanged year-over-year in the West.

Looking over the 50 largest U.S. metro areas, the highest annual proportional price gains stretched from the Northeast to the Mid-Atlantic:

1. Baltimore, Maryland (11.9%; $374,900)
2. Providence, Rhode Island (10%; $549,900)
3. Hartford, Connecticut (9.9%; $449,900)

The steepest annual proportional price drops in the largest U.S. metro areas were in the Midwest and the South, also corresponding to the census wide regional data.

1. Grand Rapids, Michigan (7.2%; $385,000)
2. Kansas City, Missouri/Kansas (6.9%; $395,500)
3. Miami, Florida (6.7%; $512,000)

Metro areas with the highest share of price reductions were:

1. Phoenix, Arizona (32.6%)
2. Tampa, Florida (28.9%)
3. Jacksonville, Florida (27.7%)

Regional breakdown of listing inventory 

All four major census regions saw annual increases to their active listings. The West saw the highest annual proportional increase in active listings, rising 40.3%. This was followed by the South, at 31.1%, then the Midwest, at 17.7%. The Northeast saw the smallest increase, at 11.3%. 

Of the major metro areas, the ones that saw the highest increases in active listings year-over-year were, indeed, in the West:

1. San Jose, California (67.9% annual increase in listing inventory)
2. Las Vegas, Nevada (67.8%)
3. Denver, Colorado (67.3%)

Of the metro areas, only Buffalo, New York (described elsewhere as the hottest housing market of the year) experienced an outright annual decline in active listings, at a 2.1% decline.

The metro area that grew active listing count the least year-over-year was the NYC metro area, followed by several Midwest metro areas.

1. New York, New York/New Jersey (3.3%)
2. Milwaukee, Wisconsin (7.7%)
3. Detroit, Michigan (9.5%)
4. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (10.8%)

For the full report, click here.