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The number of homes for sale has topped 1 million for the first time since Winter of 2019, according to data from Realtor.com. However, only metros in the South or West have fully returned to pre-pandemic inventory levels.

All 50 of the largest metro areas posted annual inventory gains in May, but only 22 are back to their 2017–2019 inventory levels – and all the metros are either in the South or West. On the flipside, housing supply shortages continue to burden Northeast and Midwest markets, most notably in Hartford, Connecticut (down 77.7% from its pre-pandemic levels) and Chicago (down 59.3%).

Also in May, 19.1% of listings featured reduced prices, the highest share for any May since at least 2016. The metros with the steepest price reductions were mostly in the West and South, including Phoenix (31.3%), Tampa (29.9%), and Denver (29.4%).

“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.”