New Year Brings More Inventory to the Market
Realtor.com: The number of newly listed homes rose 37.5% month-over-month. Florida has three of the five markets in the U.S. with the highest share of price cuts.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Despite recent increases in mortgage rates, January showed a promising change in seller activity as newly listed homes grew 37.5% month-over-month, according to the Realtor.com January Monthly Housing Report. Out of the top 50 metros, Sacramento (+31.7%), Phoenix (+27.3%) and Seattle (+24.7%) experienced the greatest bumps in newly listed homes this month compared with the same time last year.
"The shift in seller activity could mark a turning point in the high mortgage rate-induced standoff between buyers and sellers," said Danielle Hale, chief economist, Realtor.com. "The uptick is likely due to some residual benefit from fall's lower mortgage rates, which could fade. But drivers such as the need for families to adapt to life changes and the easing of the lock-in effect, could bring more movement from sellers by year's end."
Sellers warm up to the market a little more
Newly listed homes were 10.8% above last year's levels, an increase from December's slight rise of 0.9%, which puts new listing activity at its highest January level since 2021 and shows sellers are increasingly warming up to the market. A recent Realtor.com analysis showed the share of mortgage holders with a rate under 6% fell to 83%, down from 88% just one year ago. Per the 2025 Realtor.com® Housing Forecast, that share is expected to decline to 75% by the end of the year.
Furthermore, annual inventory grew for the 15th straight month, with 24.6% more homes actively for sale on a typical day in January compared with the same time in 2024. When it comes to the most active markets, Denver (+54.8%), Las Vegas (+49.4%), and Tucson (+45.0%) experienced the highest increases in active listings year-over-year, while New York (+0.3%), Hartford, Conn. (+1.8%) and Milwaukee, Wis. (+5.0%) experienced the lowest growth in active listings year-over-year.
Price cuts increase
In addition to an increase in listing activity, sellers are cutting prices. The share of listings with price cuts grew once again compared with last year. In fact, 15.6% of sellers cut prices in the month of January, up from 14.7% in January 2024. Interestingly, out of the top five markets with the highest share of price reduction, three markets are in Florida: Jacksonville (24.3%), Tampa (24.8%), Orlando (22.3%). In addition to the Florida markets, Phoenix, Ariz. (25.5%) and Portland, Ore. (22.1%) rounded out the top five markets with the highest share of price reductions.
South and West get closer to closing the inventory gap while Midwest and Northeast struggle
While January saw each of the four regions continue to close the inventory gap, the South and West are leading the way by far. In the West, listings grew by 31.0% while the South experienced a 27.2% growth in listings. The Midwest (+16.8%) and Northeast (+7.8%) trailed behind, though still saw increases. Additionally, when comparing inventory levels to pre-pandemic (2017-2019) levels, the inventory gap is also the smallest in the South (-10.0%) and West (-13.3%), a huge difference between the Midwest, where inventory is still down by 43.6% relative to pre-pandemic levels, and an even larger gap of 58.1% in the Northeast.
A look specifically at the top 50 metros shows Denver (+54.8%), Las Vegas (+49.4%), and Tucson (+45.0%) experienced the highest bumps in inventory growth this January.
Source: Realtor.com
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