More and more sellers are pulling their listings off the market.
In May, delistings surged 47% nationally, year-over-year, in a sign that sellers are more willing to wait rather than negotiate, according to Realtor.com®’s latest monthly housing trends report.
This increase is partly due to the overall increase in active inventory, up 28% year-over-year in June. Newly listed homes increased 8.8% from a year ago, but remained steady over the last two months.
Despite the new listings, delistings are still outpacing them. In terms of raw numbers, there were 13 homes delisted for every 100 hitting the market in May. This is up from 10 in the spring of 2024 and 2023, and just six in 2022.
On average, homes are staying on the market longer, with a median of 53 days on the market—five days longer than pre-pandemic, according to the report.
According to Realtor.com Senior Economist Jake Krimmel, it seems that sellers are more willing to wait out the market than accept a lower price for their home, as they have more flexibility.
“Unlike past housing cycles where falling prices pressured underwater homeowners to sell, today’s homeowners benefit from record-high levels of home equity, so they have the flexibility to wait it out,” Krimmel said in a press release. “This allows many sellers to withdraw their homes from the market if their asking price isn’t met.”
Phoenix, Arizona, led the pack, with 30 delistings per 100 listed, more than twice the national average.
Prices
Phoenix also leads in price reductions, with 34% of all listings there carrying a price cut in June. Austin, Texas, and Denver followed closely in price-reduced share. Nationally, 20.6% of listings had price cuts in June, up 2.2% year-over-year—the highest June share since at least 2016, according to Realtor.com data.
The median listing price remained steady at $440,950 in June, up 0.1% year-over-year.
The largest year-over-year price jumps were:
- 6.8% in Baltimore, Maryland
- 5.8% in Virginia Beach, Virginia
- 5% in Grand Rapids, Michigan
The metros with the largest year-over-year price declines were:
- 5% in Cincinnati, Ohio
- 4.8% in Sacramento, California
- 4.7% in Miami, Florida
“This year’s market is a study in contrasts,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist of Realtor.com. “Buyers are seeing more choices than they’ve had in years, but many sellers, anchored by peak price expectations and upheld by strong equity positions, are deciding to step back if they don’t get their number.”
Inventory hits new post-pandemic high
Nationwide, active listings topped 1 million for the second straight month in June, putting inventory about 13% below pre-pandemic norms, according to Realtor.com, but steadily closing that gap.
All four regions saw inventory growth, with the West seeing a 38% jump and the South up nearly 30%.
The top 50 metros also posted year-over-year gains, led by Las Vegas at 77.6% and Washington, D.C., at 63.6%.
