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The U.S. housing market has seen a deluge of listings this summer, as many sellers locked into their properties by lower monthly payments stopped waiting for mortgage rates to come down and buyers retreated to the sidelines due to ongoing affordability struggles.
According to real estate intelligence platform Parcl Labs, the number of active listings on the market this summer rose to 3.06 million from 2.91 million in 2024, a 4.9 percent increase. While buyers have been waiting years for better availability on the market, a majority of these listings did not sell.
“Of the 3 million properties, almost two-thirds remain on the market, with almost one third having price cuts,” Jason Lewris, co-founder of Parcl Labs, told Newsweek.
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In the face of sky-high home prices, stubbornly elevated mortgage rates—which were still around 6.8 and 6.5 percent this summer—and growing economic uncertainty, buyers have not been showing up for these additional listings, leaving hundreds of thousands of homes for sale languishing on the market.
Of the over 3 million listings on the market, only 84,3380 homes were sold this summer—the equivalent of 27.6 percent, according to Parcl Labs estimates. Those deals were closed with significant price cuts, with the average home selling for 1.5 percent less than the original asking price.
Many sellers who could not sell their homes have gotten creative, Parcl Labs found.
Is the Number of Listings on the Market Unusual in Any Way?
The U.S. housing market has been nursing an inventory shortage since the Great Recession of 2008-2009, after which developers massively underbuilt compared to growing demand. This shortage was exacerbated during the pandemic home-buying frenzy, when historically low mortgage rates triggered a surge in demand all across the country which brought prices up.
While the U.S. housing market is still short of millions of homes, this year's inventory has been boosted all across the country by a drop in demand due to affordability issues, with total active listings reaching levels unseen since the pandemic hit.
“We looked at data from 2024 and 2025, and compared to last year, listings are 4.9 percent higher,” Lewris said. “Price-cut activity has also increased 44 percent year-over-year. Both notable increases when compared to last year readings,” he added.
With more listings available, buyers were able to negotiate on prices. The list-vs-sale price gap widened to -1.5 percent this summer from -0.8 percent last year, according to Parcl Labs. But 64.1 percent of listings did not sell, leaving 1.96 million homes still seeking buyers this fall—312,000 more than 2024.
What Is Happening to Unsold Homes?
Many sellers frustrated by the inability to sell their homes at their chosen price opted to take their property off the market entirely. According to Parcl Labs, 182,120 listings were removed this summer, 6 percent of the total.
A smaller percentage—4 percent—of homes have been relisted, 27.3 percent have had price cuts, and 2.3 percent have been turned into rental units.
“Of the 3 million properties, about 71,000 transitioned to rental units, which could be helping to absorb demand,” Lewris said. This could turn out to be an easier market to navigate for homeowners unable to sell their homes.
Renting is currently cheaper than buying a starter home in all major U.S. metro but one, according to a recent report by Realtor.com, and an increasing number of American households are renting.
A big share of sellers, however, is staying put—they are neither delisting their properties nor cutting prices. According to Parcl Labs, 30.2 percent of the over 3 million listings—about 922,787 homes—in the market this summer are still available, their price unchanged.
What Does This Tell Us About the State of the U.S. Housing Market?
According to Lewris, the summer data shows that there is still a divergence between sellers and buyers, even as the latter are gaining leverage over the first. “The increased price-cut activity tells us that sellers are increasingly abandoning the wait-and-see strategy and are more motivated to sell,” he said. For buyers, this might mean that this fall would continue seeing a shift in their favor—especially with mortgage rates finally dropping below 6.5 percent.
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