Nearly one-fifth of homes for sale in September earned a markdown in the latest sign that the national housing market continues to slide, if glacially, in favor of buyers.
Luxury listings saw the fewest reductions, according to a new Realtor.com analysis of listings data, while lower- and mid-tier homes continue to drive price cuts across many markets.
Homes priced between $350,000 and $500,000 saw the greatest share of price cuts at 21.6%, while just 13.3% of listings priced above $1 million saw reductions.
“September’s trends show a housing market increasingly tilting in buyers’ favor, with a rising inventory of homes for sale, longer days on market and more competitive pricing,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com.
With the number of active homebuyers dropping to its lowest level since 2013 over the summer, the prevalence of price cuts varied widely on a regional basis.
Just 14% of homes for sale in the Northeast had price reductions, compared with 19.2% of homes for sale in the Midwest, 20.9% in the West and 21.1% in the South.
Price cuts are part and parcel of a slowdown in home price appreciation unfolding across the U.S. in a deflationary response to severe purchase affordability constraints instigated by consecutive years of double-digit home price growth between 2020 and 2022.
According to Federal Reserve Economic Data, the average sales price of $371,100 in the second quarter of 2020 rose roughly 14.5% to $428,600 in the second quarter of 2021. By the second quarter of 2022, the average sales price was up another 18.4% to $525,100.
The average sales price nationwide fell back to $512,800 as of the second quarter of 2025, but tepid purchase demand has led some sellers to delist properties instead of cutting prices or letting listings languish. Active listings fell 1.4% in August, according to Redfin.
At the metro level, 10 of the 50 largest U.S. markets have at least 25% more for-sale inventory than pre-pandemic levels, Realtor.com says. All of these metros are in the South or West, where home price softening has been more concentrated.
Nationwide, however, inventory remains 13.9% below typical 2017 to 2019 levels, Realtor.com reports. The decline in active listings suggests the housing supply recovery has stalled.
With homes spending a median of 62 days on the market in September — seven days longer than a year ago — Florida metros saw the largest annual increases in listings’ time on the market. Miami listings added 16 days, followed by Orlando (14 days), Tampa (13 days) and Las Vegas (13 days).
Metros with the highest share of homes for sale with price cuts in September, reflecting weak demand, were Portland, Ore. (30.2%), Denver (30.7%) and Indianapolis (29.7%).
