Realtor.com data showed more homes for sale – but recovery remained uneven
The latest Realtor.com February report showed a market that cooled in a more uneven way. Inventory growth slowed, prices eased and regional gaps widened for borrowers and originators. Active listings rose while days on market lengthened, pointing to a cooler but still tight environment for purchase lending.
Beneath the national averages, the report showed a market that looked very different for borrowers shopping in the Northeast and Midwest than in the South and West, and for buyers under the $500,000 mark compared with the upper tiers.
Inventory gains concentrated in cheaper Sun Belt markets
“The housing market continued to rebalance in February, with inventory growing for a 28th consecutive month of year-over-year gains; however, the pace of improvement continued to cool, highlighting a recovery that is losing steam and remains uneven across regions and price points,” the report said.
“Inventory has improved for more than two years, but the momentum has faltered in recent months,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com.
“Supply gains have been concentrated in the South and West and skewed toward homes priced below $500,000. While the Northeast and Midwest have seen growth, they remain significantly undersupplied.”
Active listings “climbed 7.9% year over year in February, reaching 914,860 homes on the market,” the report said, even as national supply “remains 16.8% below typical 2017–2019 levels.”
The South and West were “now roughly in line with 2017–2019 levels,” while inventory in February “remained 56.8% lower in the Northeast and 39.5% lower in the Midwest.”
At the metro level, 43 of the 50 largest markets saw inventory growth, led by Seattle, Louisville and San Jose, while “seven markets, including Hartford, Conn. and Providence, R.I., remain more than 50% below pre-pandemic inventory levels.”
Buyers got more time, modest price relief
“Homes spent a median of 70 days on the market in February — four days longer than a year ago and marking the 23rd straight month of slowing sales pace on an annual basis,” Realtor.com said, although homes still sold eight days faster than before the pandemic.
Nationally, “the median list price fell 2.1% year over year to $403,450,” with price per square foot down 1.9%.
Median list prices “rose modestly in the Midwest and were nearly flat in the Northeast, but declined in the South and West,” while price per square foot “climbed 3.3% in the Northeast and 2.1% in the Midwest, even as it fell in the South and West.”
In February, 15.5% of listings featured a price cut, “down from 16.8% last year” and lowest in the Northeast.
Meanwhile, existing‑home sales in January fell 8.4% from December, even as the median price for a resale home ticked up and months’ supply rose to about 3.7, the National Association of Realtors reported.
California REALTORS pointed to moderating demand and still‑elevated inventory levels as early‑2026 prices slipped from recent highs, describing a gradual move toward more balanced conditions.
Lower rates stirred demand, but not a boom
Mortgage rates eased to their lowest levels since 2022, with the average 30‑year fixed slipping 5.98% in late February, according to Freddie Mac data.
Mortgage applications rose 11% in the week ending February 27, with the Mortgage Bankers Association noting that “purchase applications also moved higher, with the week’s pace almost 10% ahead of last year’s pace, as lower rates and growing levels of housing inventory continue to support homebuyer interest.”
Meanwhile, "rising delistings and the growth of refuge markets capture the push and pull defining today’s housing market,” as Hale put it in a separate interview, with pandemic boomtowns seeing frustrated sellers yank listings when price expectations were not met.
Brokers also described a “cooler but fairer” market where higher inventory and longer marketing times gave qualified buyers more room to negotiate, without tipping conditions decisively in their favor.
Stay updated with the freshest mortgage news. Get exclusive interviews, breaking news, and industry events in your inbox, and always be the first to know by subscribing to our FREE daily newsletter.
