Housing Inventory Climbs 5.8% as Listing Prices Fall for a 36th Straight Week

Share this article!

The housing market is giving buyers more homes to choose from without producing the kind of slowdown that rising mortgage rates might ordinarily suggest.

Active inventory rose 5.8% year over year during the week ending Sept. 19, according to Realtor.com Economic Research. More than 1.17 million homes were actively listed, keeping supply near its highest levels since late 2019.

At the same time, the typical home spent 61 days on the market—one day less than during the comparable week last year.

That combination is worth watching. Inventory is accumulating, but the buyers who remain active are still absorbing homes at roughly last year’s pace even though mortgage rates have risen since mid-August.

Prices have now fallen year over year for 36 consecutive weeks

The median listing price was $419,500, down 1.3% from a year earlier. Realtor.com said that marked the 36th consecutive week of year-over-year declines.

Price per square foot slipped to $223, near its lowest level of the year, while the year-to-date median listing price remained 1.9% below 2025.

Listing prices are not the same as final sale prices, but the sustained decline is another indication that sellers are adjusting expectations in a market where monthly payments remain difficult for many households.

Sellers have not disappeared

New listings were 0.9% above a year earlier, essentially holding near last year’s pace. Realtor.com said new listings crossed the 1 million threshold during the week.

That resilience is notable because higher mortgage rates reinforce the lock-in effect for homeowners carrying older loans at much lower rates.

One offset is homeowner equity. U.S. household real estate values and equity remain historically high, giving some long-time owners more financial flexibility to move even when a replacement mortgage is considerably more expensive.

The result is a market being pulled in opposite directions: elevated rates discourage transactions, while accumulated equity and more realistic seller pricing allow some moves to happen anyway.

Inventory is rising faster again

The 5.8% annual inventory increase accelerated from 5.0% the previous week and was the strongest weekly growth rate since late August, according to Realtor.com. Year-to-date active inventory is up 4.5%.

With new listings growing only slightly, the acceleration indicates that homes are accumulating as the market moves into its normal seasonal slowdown.

For agents and sellers, that increases the cost of overpricing. For buyers, it creates more choice and potentially more negotiating leverage, though the benefit can be offset by higher financing costs.

The most interesting signal is that days on market have not deteriorated alongside rates. Earlier in 2026, homes were commonly taking at least two days longer to sell than a year earlier. The latest reading has flipped to one day faster.

That does not mean demand is broadly strong. It suggests the remaining buyer pool may be more financially prepared and that appropriately priced homes can still move despite a difficult rate environment.