Summary
The number of homes available for sale remains high compared to last year, increasing by 35.8% for the 10th consecutive month. However, there was a slowing of new home listings in August, with a decrease of 0.9% in newly listed homes compared to last year. Additionally, there was a 1.3% decrease in median home prices in August compared to August 2023.
Report
The housing market slowed in August as both buyers and sellers appeared to be waiting for lower mortgage rates, according to the Realtor.com August housing data. Additionally, the median list price nationwide decreased, compared to last August. Sellers are increasingly showing patience, something buyers haven’t much experienced in the post-pandemic housing market, with homes moving at the slowest rate for an August in five years.
The share of listings with price cuts was the highest in August since 2018, and the number of active listings was the highest since May 2020. In August, there were 35.8% more homes actively for sale, compared to August 2023. This made August the tenth consecutive month of annual inventory growth and the highest count post-pandemic.
However, the August growth was down from July’s 36.6% year-over-year listings. August is now the second consecutive month for a decrease in the growth rate from the prior month. In August, as in the previous six months, the growth in homes in the $200,000 to $350,000 range outpaced all other price categories.
The inventory of homes in this price range grew by 46.1% compared with August 2023; however, this is down slightly from July’s growth of 47.3%. Just like buyers, sellers also pulled back in August. Newly listed homes were 0.9% below August 2023 levels and a reversal from a gain of 8.4% in July. The decrease in newly listed homes breaks a nine-month streak of increased listing activity.
In August, the typical home spent 53 days on the market, 7 days more than August 2023, and 3 more days than July. This marks the fifth month in a row where homes spent more time on the market than the previous year. The national median list home price declined nearly $8,000 in August, falling to $429,990, a decline of 1.3% compared with August 2023.
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