This summer, the national real estate market reached five months of supply nationally, putting it in a “rare state of balance,” according to a new Realtor.com report.
Months of supply is a common industry gauge of housing market balance, measuring how long it would take to sell all homes at the current pace if no new listings were added. Realtor.com defines fewer than four months as a seller’s market, four to six months as balanced and six or more as a buyer’s market.
As a result, this is the “most buyer-friendly summer” since Realtor.com began tracking the metric in 2016, Jake Krimmel, senior economist at the site, tells CNBC Make It.
The shift is especially pronounced in large metro areas across the South and West, where faster inventory growth has shifted leverage toward buyers. In Florida, high insurance premiums and other costs have further dampened demand.
Out of the 50 largest metros in the U.S., seven have crossed into buyer’s market territory, with six months or more of supply, based on June data, the most recent available. Additionally, 23 of the largest metros are balanced and 20 still favor sellers, the report says.
Here are the seven major markets that now favor buyers, ranked by months of supply in June, the latest available data. Median list prices from June are also included to align with supply data.
1. Miami
Median list price: $510,000Months of supply: 9.7
2. Austin, Texas
Median list price: $524,950Months of supply: 7.1
3. Orlando, Florida
Median list price: $429,473Months of supply: 6.9
4. New York City
Median list price: $786,500Months of supply: 6.7
5. Jacksonville, Florida
Median list price: $408,995Months of supply: 6.3
6. Tampa, Florida
Median list price: $419,000Months of supply: 6.3
7. Riverside, California
Median list price: $599,995Months of supply: 6.1
The market is tilting toward buyers, but still feels out of reach for many
Although home prices have dropped since the national median reached a high of $449,400 in June 2022, buyers still face steep costs.
Median home prices held steady at $429,990 in August compared with a year earlier, according to Realtor.com, while 30-year fixed mortgage rates hovered just below 7% through much of the summer.
And while “active listings have been growing now for almost two years straight, we’re still not back to where we were before the pandemic,” says Krimmel.
That housing shortage, combined with high borrowing costs, has kept many buyers out of the market, he says. The typical listing spent 60 days on the market in August, up seven days from the previous year. Pending home sales also fell 1.3% in August from a year earlier, marking the eighth consecutive month of year-over-year declines.
Sellers, meanwhile, are holding out. Delistings — when a home is pulled off the market without selling — jumped 57% from a year ago in July, the most recent month with available data.
“We’re seeing sellers be quite reluctant to cut list prices and meet the market where it is,” says Krimmel.
Regional dynamics also matter. Buyer’s markets are emerging mostly in the South and West, while the Northeast and Midwest continue to tilt toward sellers, Realtor.com reports.
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