Of the 50 largest U.S. metros, 49 saw active inventory gains in February compared with last year, and Austin, Texas; Las Vegas; and San Antonio saw higher inventory compared with typical February 2017 to 2019 levels. These numbers, according to the Realtor.com Monthly Housing Trends Report, also note that the supply of homes is up 67.8% year over year in February, allowing more options for buyers.
The most growth in active listings was in the South at 141.4% compared with February 2022, while all 50 largest metros saw a year-over-year increase of 86%. Raleigh, North Carolina (14.8%); Dallas (10.3%); and San Antonio (10.2%) led six metros in the highest increase of newly listed homes over last year. The largest yearly decrease in newly listed homes were in Western metros, including San Jose, California; San Francisco; and Seattle.
“The number of homes for sale on the market is up significantly from a year ago, even though fewer homeowners have listed their home for sale in recent months. High home prices and mortgage rates continue to cut into buyer interest, and homes are taking more than three weeks longer to sell than last year,” says Danielle Hale, chief economist for Realtor.com. “With a smaller pool of buyers today and more competition from other homes on the market, home sellers will likely need to adjust their price expectations in the market this spring.”
As the market rebalances and inventory begins to return to more normal levels, the typical home spent 67 days on the market on average, which is 23 days longer than this time last year but still 20 days faster than February 2017 to 2019. Time on the market was lower across the 50 largest metros at 56 days on average in February, a pace 19 days slower than February 2022. Forty-seven of the 50 metros saw an increase in time on the market. The largest metros in the West saw the greatest increase in days on the market, including Las Vegas and Denver at +38 days. Raleigh also saw a large increase at +51 days.
The increase in days on the market prompted some sellers to drop asking prices. For February, 13% of active listings reduced the price, up from 5.4% a year ago. Southern metros experienced the largest increase in the share of listings with price reductions at 10.3 percentage points. Although prices fell in some areas, the median listing prices was $415,000 in February, up from $406,000 in January.
