The typical home that went under contract in February spent 66 days on the market, according to a new report from Redfin. That’s the slowest February pace since 2016 and up from 58 days a year earlier.
“House hunters have been waiting for mortgage rates to drop, and they finally fell below 6% a couple of weeks ago, which was great. One of our agents had a client lock in a 5.6% rate,” Redfin Senior Economist Asad Khan said. “But then rates bounced back. The war in Iran, skyrocketing gas prices, and other economic jitters are making homebuyers nervous.”
Spring is coming and it usually is the busiest season for the housing market, but economic uncertainty isn’t the only factor causing homebuyers to slow down, Redfin noted. It’s a buyer’s market right now, with sellers outnumbering buyers by more than 40%, meaning the buyers who are in the market have negotiating power and can afford to take their time.
Median Home Price Up Year Over Year
Redfin noted that the typical homebuyer in February paid 1.8% less than the final list price, the largest discount for this time of year since 2023. The median home sale price was $429,259, which is up 0.9% from a year earlier.
While home prices continue to grow, that growth pales in comparison to the double-digit gains during the pandemic homebuying frenzy, Redfin said.
Homebuying and selling activity were both muted in February. Pending home sales were down 0.8% month over month on a seasonally adjusted basis, while new listings fell 1.2%, Redfin reported.
The brokerage said that an early look at March data shows that more sellers may be testing the waters, and that some sellers who delisted their homes in 2025 are considering relisting in hopes of an upswing in spring demand.
Here are some metro level highlights from the Redfin report:
- Prices: Median sale prices rose most from a year earlier in St. Louis (7.6%), Newark, New Jersey (5.6%) and Kansas City, Missouri (4.6%). They fell most in Oakland, California (-5.6%), Austin, Texas (-4.2%) and Denver (-4.2%).
- Pending home sales: Pending sales rose most in San Jose, California (11%), Milwaukee (10.8%) and Portland, Oregon (8%). They fell most in Nassau County, New York (-21.1%), Oakland (-17.6%) and Providence, Rhode Island (-12.5%).
- Closed home sales: Home sales rose most in Kansas City, Missouri (12.3%), San Jose (10%) and Jacksonville, Florida (6.9%). They fell most in Providence (-15.4%), Newark (-12.2%) and San Antonio (-12.2%).
- New listings: New listings rose most in Kansas City, Missouri (15.7%), Milwaukee (15.4%) and Portland, Oregon (13.3%). They fell most in Nassau County (-25.7%), Providence (-20.4%) and New Brunswick, New Jersey (-18.1%).
- Active listings: Active listings rose most in Seattle (17.4%), Detroit (14.5%) and Washington, D.C. (10.8%). They fell most in Jacksonville (-15.6%), San Francisco (-15.1%) and Nassau County (-12.1%).
- Days on market: In San Antonio, the typical home that went under contract did so in 109 days, which was 28 days longer than a year earlier—the biggest increase among the metros analyzed. Next came Las Vegas (+21 days) and Charlotte, NC (+19 days). San Francisco was the only metro that saw a decrease (-1 day).
- Sold above list price: In San Francisco, 61.9% of homes sold above their final list price, the highest share among the metros analyzed. Next came San Jose (60.6%) and Oakland (55.2%). The lowest shares were in West Palm Beach (5.1%), Miami (7.1%) and Houston (10.3%).
