US neighborhoods filled with 'for sale' signs as homes flood market
In June, 1.36 million homes were for sale - the most since November 2019. A record-high 26.6 percent of listings dropped prices in June, as sellers desperately tried to entice buyers. The cuts were most common in the Sun Belt and Mountain States, specifically Denver.
The share of listings with a price cut for June was the highest it has been in that month since 2018, according to Zillow records. The numbers were also closing in on an all-time high of 27 percent - a record held by September 2022. Price cuts are most common among Sun Belt and Mountain State markets that witnessed massive appreciation early in the pandemic.
According to the Zillow Home Value Index - which measures typical home values in cities - Denver had the highest share of price cuts at 38.3 percent of the homes listed. The average home price there is $586,433. Raleigh, North Carolina, where the average home is worth $446,622, saw 36.4 percent of listings slash prices. In Nashville, Tennessee, where the average singe-family home is worth $457,836, 35.5 percent of listings had to cut their prices.
Phoenix, which has an average home price of $453,381, saw 35.5 percent of sellers lower the price. And in Dallas, where the average home price is $372,023, 35.5 percent of sellers were forced to cut their listing prices. Other cities that saw home price cuts were Tampa, Florida, Salt Lake City, Indianapolis and Austin, Texas.
Sellers had the upper hand through most of the past five years as demand for homes far outweighed the options available. But affordability for buyers is still a major challenge. Home value growth is at a standstill and mortgage costs have ticked down ever so slightly from a year ago. But high prices and borrowing costs are still big hurdles for buyers, especially first-timers.
Inventory is still roughly 21 percent below pre-pandemic averages for June, but that deficit is expected to continue shrinking. Zillow forecasts inventory to approach pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year. For buyers, this is all good news.
They have more options to choose from, more time to decide on a house and more bargaining power than in prior years. Sellers need to price realistically and set their listing apart from the crowd. But something else experts are seeing is that buyers are not in a rush.
Listings that sell do so in 19 days - just one day faster than before the pandemic. That's compared to 15 days in 2024 and 11 in 2023. Zillow studied the housing market nationwide. In 22 of the 50 largest metropolitan areas, the markets are now labeled neutral, where neither buyers nor sellers have the upper hand. That's compared to 15 markets that were neutral in May and just eight at this time a year ago.
New listings stepped down significantly from May to June, dropping 10.9 percent. Some of that is likely seasonal, since new listings peaked in May in 2018, 2019 and 2024. But some potential sellers are also seeing slower sales in many markets and deciding to hold off.
Before having to lower listings, home prices had skyrocketed across the US since the pandemic, and it has become increasingly difficult for average Americans to purchase properties (according to 2024 Pew research, the middle class income range falls between $54,009 and $161,220). From March 2019 to March 2025, home values jumped an alarming 39 percent, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
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