Delistings surged while buyers shifted to cheaper “refuge” markets
Homeowners across the country pulled listings at an unusually high rate in late 2025, reinforcing a standoff between sellers clinging to pandemic-era price expectations and buyers squeezed by higher borrowing costs.
October delistings jumped nearly 38% year over year and were up about 45% year to date, cementing 2025 as the highest national delisting year since Realtor.com began tracking the metric in 2022.
Since June, roughly 6% of listings has been removed from the market each month, a pace more typical of the slowest winter weeks than the peak summer selling season.
The delisting‑to‑new‑listing ratio climbed to 0.27 in October, meaning one home came off the market for about every three to four newly listed properties.
“The delisting trend is a perfect personification of the stagnant and frustration‑filled housing market,” Realtor.com senior economist Jake Krimmel said.
“With buyers and sellers far apart, the sellers’ solution is to pull that trump card and delist, rather than cut prices.”
He added that this “emergency exit” for homeowners kept inventory depressed and put upward pressure on prices, sending “both buyers and sellers back to square one.”
Sellers retreat, buyers hunt for refuge markets
What set 2025 apart was how early the retreat began. Krimmel said delistings surged 48% year over year in June and 57% in July, just as many agents had expected demand to firm.
In Miami, 45 homes were delisted for every 100 new listings in October, with Denver and Houston close behind at 39 and 37 respectively.
At the same time, buyers increasingly sought out lower‑cost “refuge markets” such as Grand Rapids, St. Louis, Cleveland, Milwaukee and Pittsburgh, where prices remained 20%–30% below the national median even after several years of appreciation.
Realtor.com chief economist Danielle Hale said “rising delistings and the growth of refuge markets capture the push and pull defining today’s housing market,” with higher rates and rapid price gains having “rewritten the rules of engagement for both buyers and sellers.”
Earlier this year, Grand Rapids led major metros for millennial homeownership and that younger buyers were “extremely cautious” about stretching for price.
Contracts fall through as expectations collide
Tensions also showed up after offers were accepted. Roughly 53,000 US home‑purchase agreements were canceled in September, equal to 15.1% of homes that went under contract that month, according to Redfin.
The firm tied the pullbacks to high housing costs and economic uncertainty rather than any single regional shock.
As Charlotte-based broker Rebecca Richardson told Mortgage Professional America earlier this year, “This isn’t ’21. This isn’t ’22. You can’t just throw your house on the market and say, ‘Take it or leave it.’”
Demand has not disappeared, but deals increasingly depend on precise pricing, clear communication and a willingness to meet buyers in the few corners of the market where homes still pencil out.
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