Recovery Splits the Map as the West and South Bounce Back, and Other Regions Struggle to Catch Up
The U.S. housing market is staging a comeback, but the rebound is sharply divided, according to the May Monthly Housing Trends Report from Realtor.com®. The number of homes for sale in the U.S. topped 1 million for the first time since Winter 2019, but only metros in the South or West have fully returned to pre-pandemic inventory levels as the Northeast and Midwest remain stuck in a supply squeeze.
“The number of homes for sale is growing, and even hit a key milestone in May, with more than a million active listings. But not every housing market is equally well-supplied,” said Realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale. “Recent construction trends explain a lot of the variation in recovery that we see across markets. Many markets that built aggressively during and after the pandemic are now seeing more listings, longer time on market, and even some modest price softening. In contrast, markets that didn’t build as many homes are still facing an acute shortage, which continues to prop up prices and limit buyer options.”
May 2025 Housing Metrics – National
| Metric | May 2025 | Change overApr. 2025 (MoM) | Change overMay 2024 (YoY) | Change over May 2019 |
| Median listing price | $440,000 | +2.0 % | +0.1 % | +37.5 % |
| Active listings | 1,036,101 | +8.0 % | +31.5 % | -12.3 % |
| New listings | 465,096 | -1.4 % | +7.2 % | -20.4 % |
| Median days on market | 51 | +1 day | +6 days | -1 day |
| Share of active listings with price reductions | 19.1 % | +1.1 percentage points | +2.4 percentage points | +3.7 percentage points |
| Median List Price Per Sq.Ft. | $234 | +0.5 % | +0.6 % | +53.3 % |
Inventory is Recovering Faster in the South and West
All 50 of the largest U.S. metros posted annual inventory gains in May 2025. But, just 22 have fully rebounded to their 2017–2019 inventory norms, and every single one is in the South or West. When it comes to active inventory, cities like Denver (+100.0% vs. pre-pandemic), Austin, Texas (+69.0%), and Seattle, Washington (+60.9%) lead the way, thanks in large part to a post-2020 construction boom. On the flip side, metros like Hartford, Conn. (-77.7%), Chicago (-59.3%), and Virginia Beach, Va. (-56.7%) have recovered the least.
“More homes on the market means buyers finally have options and leverage they haven’t had in years,” said Gary Ashton, founder of The Ashton Real Estate Group of RE/MAX Advantage in Nashville. “But the strategy for buyers and their agents this spring largely depends on where you live. In Southern locales, like Nashville, the average sales price has increased by 3% as homes remain on the market for longer and local supply increases. We can expect to see sellers get creative with offering concessions to buyers and start to consider more price reductions.”
More Homes on the Market, But Affordability is Keeping Them Out of Reach
Nationally, active listings surpassed the 1 million mark for the first time since Winter 2019, while newly listed homes rose 7.2% year-over-year. But these increases haven’t translated into a hot spring buying season. Homes took a median 51 days to sell, six days longer than last year, and price cuts rose for the fifth straight month.
In May 2025, 19.1% of listings featured reduced prices, the highest share for any May since at least 2016. Metros with the steepest price reductions were mostly in the West and South, including Phoenix, Ariz. (31.3%), Tampa, Fla. (29.9%), and Denver, Colo. (29.4%).
Why New Construction Is the Great Divider
The Realtor.com® analysis found a clear link between pandemic-era building activity and today’s inventory conditions. Metros that built more housing like Austin, Nashville, and Denver have generally returned to pre-2020 inventory levels. Those with less new construction like New York, Boston, and Buffalo, N.Y., have not.
This uneven recovery mirrors findings from a recent Realtor.com® Housing Supply Gap report, which identified a nationwide shortfall of nearly 4 million homes, and without meaningful changes to zoning, permitting, and construction incentives, supply-constrained regions, especially in the Northeast and Midwest, risk falling even further behind.
SOURCE Realtor.com
