The housing market is slow. How slow? Houses are selling at their slowest rate in “at least” three decades.
Just 28 out of every 1,000 houses in the country changed hands so far this year, according to economists at the Redfin real estate brokerage firm.
The company examined sales between 2012 and 2025, but it says it “can confidently say this year’s 2.8% turnover rate is the lowest since at least the early-mid 1990s.”
Back then, existing home sales were similar to this year’s, but the number of existing homes was smaller, so the “turnover rate” was higher.
So far this year, 38% fewer houses changed hands then did during the pandemic’s buying frenzy, the company reports. In 2021, the rate was 4.4%, meaning 44 of every 1,000 houses registered new owners.
Breaking down the market, about 30 out of every 1,000 single family homes sold in the first nine months this year. That’s a slightly faster clip than the roughly 22 out of every 1,000 condos/townhouses that sold.
The usual suspects account for the slowdown: Affordability challenges for buyers, the lock-in effect of extremely low rates for would-be sellers and economic uncertainty for everyone. Says Redfin’s Head of Economic Research Chen Zhao: “America’s housing market is defined right now by caution.”
The economist noted that buyers are walking away from deals more often, “sometimes due to affordability issues and sometimes because they’re re-evaluating whether now is the right moment to commit.” Others, he added, aren’t even shopping, waiting instead for prices or mortgage rates to come down.
Sellers, meanwhile, “are staying put,” Zhao said, “either because they’re locked into low rates or unwilling to accept offers below expectations.”
And ‘when both sides hesitate,” he pointed out, “sales naturally fall to historic lows.”
Meanwhile, though inventories are up, the pool grew this year at the third slowest rate since 2012, when records first started being kept. During the first nine months, 39 out of every 1,000 houses – 3.9% – were listed for sale. In 2019, there were 52 listings per 1,000 houses.
On a metro level, Virginia Beach topped the list of the 50 most populous markets with the highest turnover rate, 3.5%. Next came West Palm Beach at 3.3%, followed by Tampa at 3.1% and Indianapolis and Atlanta, both at 3%.
The slowest turnover rate was recorded in New York, where only 10 out of every 1,000 houses swapped owners.
