Three metrics that measure competition in the U.S. housing market each dropped to the lowest September level in six years last month.
Share of homes selling above list price: 25.3% of homes that sold went for more than their final list price, down from 28.5% a year earlier.
Average sale-to-list-price ratio: This metric came in at 98.6%, down from 99.1% a year earlier. That means the typical home sold for 1.4% less than its final list price, compared with 0.9% less last September.
Share of homes selling in two weeks: 32.8% of homes that went under contract did so within two weeks of being listed, down from 34.9% a year earlier.
A fourth metric—time on market—shows that the housing market is moving at the slowest pace for this time of year in nearly a decade. The typical home that went under contract in September sat on the market for 50 days—the slowest September pace since 2016.
Homes Sit on the Market and Often Sell for Under List Price The housing market is sluggish because high costs and economic uncertainty are limiting the number of people buying homes. Inventory has also ticked up, meaning the buyers who are in the market have more options and many of them can afford to take their time. There are 36.7% more home sellers in the market than buyers—a near-record gap. The good news for buyers is this means they often have an opportunity to negotiate and ask for concessions.
Home Prices Post Biggest Increase in Six Months
The median home sale price rose 1.7% year over year to $435,545 in September—the biggest uptick in six months and the highest September level on record. Home price growth was slowing during the first half of the year because inventory was rising, giving buyers more options to choose from. While buyers still have a lot more options than they had in recent years, listings have started to tick down in recent months, which has in turn pushed up sale prices. Still, as mentioned above, sellers in many markets are accepting offers for less than their list prices because buyers continue to have negotiating power.
Active listings (seasonally adjusted)
Active listings fell 0.6% month over month to 1.96 million in September on a seasonally adjusted basis—the lowest level since February—but were still up 8% year over year. Sellers have pulled back in recent months because homebuyer demand is sluggish. Redfin agents report that some sellers are pulling their homes off the market and opting to rent them out instead if they don’t get the price they want.
Existing-Home Sales Rise to Highest Level of the Year as Mortgage Rates Decline
Existing-home sales rose 0.4% month over month and 4.5% year over year to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.25 million in September. That’s the highest level since January and the largest year-over-year gain since December.
Total home sales rose 0.7% month over month on a seasonally adjusted basis and climbed 3.4% year over year to the highest level since October 2022.
Home sales have likely inched up due to a decline in mortgage rates. Rates have been ticking down for most of 2025, and averaged 6.35% in September—the lowest level in a year.
It’s worth noting that existing home sales and total sales are backward-looking metrics and represent deals that were negotiated in months past. A more current gauge of homebuyer demand is pending home sales, which fell 1% month over month on a seasonally-adjusted basis in September and dropped 2.4% year over year—the biggest annual decline since February.
