According to Realtor.com’s August monthly housing report, the U.S. housing market achieved a rare condition of equilibrium this summer. The metric’s months of supply were at 5.0, which hasn’t been observed during the summer months since Realtor.com started monitoring it in 2016. Although local conditions differ greatly between regions and metro areas, this trend indicates the continuation of a gradual rebalancing in favor of homebuyers.
“The national housing market is now more balanced between homebuyers and sellers at five months of supply, but that balance conceals a wide range of local realities,” said Danielle Hale, Chief Economist at Realtor.com. “In Miami, Austin, and Orlando, buyers are clearly in control, while in metros like Milwaukee and Boston, sellers remain firmly in the driver’s seat. The takeaway for buyers and sellers alike is that local conditions, not national headlines, are what matter most for pricing, competition, and timing.”
The official definition of months of supply is the total inventory for a given month, including both pending and active listings, divided by the number of sales during that month. Theoretically, it shows how long it would take to sell every house on the market at the current rate of sales. In actuality, the statistic is a well-established general rule: a market with fewer than four months is a seller’s market, one with four to six months is balanced, and one with six or more months is a buyer’s market.
August 2025 Housing Metrics – National
| Metric | August 2025 | Change overJuly 2025 (MoM) | Change overAug. 2024 (YoY) | Change over Aug. 2019 |
| Median listing price | $429,990 | -2.2 % | 0.0 % | 36.2 % |
| Active listings | 1,098,681 | -0.4 % | 20.9 % | -11.1 % |
| New listings | 402,268 | -7.5 % | 4.9 % | -16.1 % |
| Median days on market | 60 | 2 | 7 | 1 |
| Share of active listings with price reductions | 20.3 % | 0 | 1.1 | 2.8 |
| Median List Price Per Sq.Ft. | $228 | -1.2 % | 0.1 % | 51.3 % |
Measuring Metro-Level Trends — U.S.
With six months or more of supply, seven of the 50 biggest U.S. markets at the metro level—Miami, Austin, Orlando, New York, Jacksonville, Tampa, and Riverside, California—were in buyer’s market territory in June. In August, costs per square foot also decreased in all of the main metro areas in this category.
- Buyers’ Markets – Highest months of supply metros (June): Miami (9.7), Austin (7.1), Orlando (6.9), New York (6.7), Jacksonville, FL (6.3), Tampa, FL (6.3), and Riverside, CA (6.1).
- Balanced metros near the national average: Los Angeles (5.0), Denver (4.9), Portland, Ore. (5.1).
- Sellers’ Markets – Lowest months of supply metros: Milwaukee (2.7), St. Louis (2.9), Grand Rapids, MI (2.9), Boston (3.0).
While markets with less than four months’ supply saw stronger price rise in August, those with more than six months’ supply saw price reductions. The difference is very regional: most of the Northeast and Midwest continue to be in tight seller’s market territory with stable or rising prices, while Southern markets, especially those in Florida and Texas, dominate the buyer’s market category. Interestingly, buyer’s market regions also correspond with places with a higher concentration of new homes and more active builders.
The market is still being shaped by the increasing number of houses for sale. August saw a 20.9% year-over-year increase in active listings, the fourth consecutive month exceeding one million listings and the 22nd consecutive month of growth.
However, that growth is tapering down. Since May, when active listing growth hit 31.5% year-over-year, it has slowed each month. Additionally, the gap to pre-pandemic inventories has grown once more, rising from 12.9% in June to 14.3% below 2017–2019 norms. In other words, the nationwide inventory recovery is headed in the wrong direction.
Additional Highlights — National
- By region: Inventory rose in all four major U.S. regions, led by the West (+26.7%) and South (+21.8%), with slower growth in the Midwest (+15.6%) and Northeast (+14.2%).
- Relative to pre-pandemic norms: Only the South (+3.6%) and West (+6.6%) are running above 2017–2019 levels. The Midwest (-39.3%) and Northeast (-50.9%) continue to lag significantly.
- Metros above pre-pandemic levels by 25%: 11 of the top 50 all concentrated in the South and West. Denver (+64.2%), San Antonio (+53.4%), and Austin (+50.2%) lead the list.
Delistings Discouraging Summer Markets
In addition to static pricing and decreasing sales, delistings have emerged as a key characteristic of the housing market this summer. In July, the most recent month for which delisting data is available, delistings increased 57% nationally over the same period last year, continuing a steep rising trend that has already surpassed advances in overall inventory. The number of delistings has increased 41% so far this year.
In July, the delisting-to-new listing ratio, which measures the movement of houses into and out of the for-sale market, increased to 0.24. This indicates that 24 previously listed homes were taken off the market without selling for every 100 new listings that were added to the market. The ratio was only 0.17 a year earlier, in contrast.
Metros with the highest delisting-to-listing ratios (July):
- Miami (57 per 100 new listings)
- Phoenix (45)
- Riverside, CA (34)
- Tucson, AZ (33)
Note: A rising delisting rate suggests that sellers are increasingly unwilling to accept current market prices or conditions, pulling their homes from the market instead. This pullback could put downward pressure on inventory later in the year, reducing buyer choice even as market momentum slows.
Home Sales Slow as Demand Moderates
Demand-side data show signs of a cooling market. For the fourth consecutive month, progress slowed in August, with pending home sales declining 1.3% year over year and new listings growing just 4.9%.
Additionally, it is taking longer to sell homes. For the second consecutive month, August saw the average home on the market for 60 days, which is seven days longer than it was the previous year and above pre-pandemic averages. Time on market increased year over year for the seventeenth consecutive month.
The South and West are where the downturn is most noticeable regionally. Time on market increased by eight days in the West and the South compared to three days in the Midwest and two days in the Northeast last year. Listings are now lingering longer than they were before the pandemic in some 27 of the top 50 metro areas, with Miami (+16 days) and Nashville, TN (+21 days), experiencing the most slowdowns.
Further, at $429,990, the national median list price decreased 2.2% month over month but stayed the same as the previous year. The Northeast had a minor increase in year-over-year prices (+1.1%), the Midwest and South were stable (+0.0%) and (-0.1%), while the West saw a slight decline (-2.1%).
As demand declines, sellers are adapting. Price decreases were made to 20.3% of current listings in August, with the South and West seeing the largest reductions. As more sellers took their houses off the market, delistings also increased significantly, going up 57% year-over-year.
To read more, click here.
