Cooling home prices have dominated narratives about U.S. housing trends over the course of 2025.
After multiple years of double-digit home price appreciation during the COVID-19 pandemic, prospects for future price growth are anchored by low affordability conditions sidelining borrowers, especially first-time homebuyers.
If household budgets cannot accommodate elevated housing costs, asset values will decline to more affordable thresholds — a trend that has unfolded in regional markets across the U.S.
“Home values surged over the past six years, and the vast majority of homeowners still have significant equity,” said Treh Manhertz, a senior researcher at Zillow, in a report from the online listings platform examining the trend. “What we’re seeing now is a normalization, not a crash.”
That normalization has led to 53% of homes nationwide losing value in the past year as of October, according to Zillow’s estimate using its Zestimate pricing tool.
That share stood at 14% a year ago and now represents the highest share of homes declining in value since April 2012, when the housing crash was reaching its bottom, according to Zillow.
With home turnover rates at historic lows, the decline in home prices does not translate to losses for the majority of sellers, though.
Homes sold in the third quarter had remained in their owners’ hands for 8.39 years, an increase from 8.13 years in the second quarter and the longest homeownership tenure in 25 years, according to real estate analytics firm Attom.
The National Association of Realtors reported an even slower rate of home turnover. The median time between purchasing and selling was 11 years from July 2024 to June 2025, an all-time high.
Zillow reports that “relatively few” homeowners are facing the prospect of selling at a loss, given that “just 4.1% of homes have lost value since their last sale, a smaller share than before the pandemic.”
On a national level, home values are up a median of 67% since their last sale, though “most homes” have declined in value from their pandemic-era peaks, Zillow reports, with an average decline of 9.7%.
“Some fast-growing and supply-constrained metros have seen home values rise much faster since last sale,” the report also underscores, led by Buffalo, N.Y. (108%), San Jose, Calif. (97%), Providence, R.I. (95%), Columbus, Ohio (90%) and San Diego (88%).
Just 3.4% of homes nationwide in October were Zestimate-priced below their last sale price.
Major U.S. metros that saw the largest share of homes that lost value year over year in October were concentrated in the South and West, including: Jacksonville, Fla. (83%); Orlando, Fla. (85%); Tampa, Fla. (85%); Austin, Texas (89%); Dallas (87%); San Antonio (86%); Denver (91%); Las Vegas (81%); Phoenix (87%); Sacramento, Calif. (88%); San Francisco (83%); and Portland, Ore. (81%).
