Rather than haggle over prices, some sellers are opting out of the market altogether, according to the latest “Seller Spotlight” from Realtor.com.
In fact, delistings outpaced gains in overall inventory. “The spike signals that some sellers would rather wait than negotiate, suggesting recent buyer-friendly momentum could wane,” the report says.
Price cuts are now a key trend. With demand softening and competition increasing, the report says, some sellers are adjusting. In June, more than one in five listings saw a price reduction. Yet despite the markdowns, the national median list prices have held steady — suggesting, the report says, that “most sellers are still anchored to peak-era expectations.”
But many sellers “are choosing a different path” by pulling their houses off the market. Delistings jumped 35% year-to-date in May and 47% year-over-year. This compares to 28% and 32%, respectively, in active listings growth.
“Today’s sellers find themselves in an unfamiliar and uncomfortable position — at least compared to the last several years,” the report explains. “With supply increasing due to rising inventory and demand languishing as a result of high prices and interest rates, prospective sellers are likely to experience firsthand the least seller-friendly summer since at least 2016 when Realtor.com’s data series began.”
Nevertheless, sellers still hold a trump card, the report says: “They can delist and fish for a high asking price at a later date.”
In June, inventory continued to climb for the 20th straight month, and new listings increased year-over-year across every major region. And, nationally, houses are taking five days longer to sell than they did a year ago.
The number of actively listed homes rose 28.9% in June compared to the same time last year, building on May’s 30.1% increase. The number of homes for sale topped 1 million for the second consecutive month and exceeded 2020 levels for the third month in a row.
Even so, the June inventory remained 13% below typical 2017-2019 levels.
Newly listed homes increased across all four U.S. regions in June. Among the 50 largest metros, 42 saw a year-over-year increase in new listings. Just four metros are above pre-pandemic norms for new listings: Nashville; San Antonio; Houston; and Jacksonville, Fla.
In June, the typical home spent 53 days on the market, marking the 15th straight month of homes taking longer to sell on a year-over-year basis. As a result, time on market has normalized, with houses spending the same number of days on market as their June 2017-2019 average.
Meanwhile, at nearly 21% of all sellers, those who’d cut prices in June were the highest share in Realtor.com data going back to at least 2016. “In fact, price reductions have been at their highest levels in our data going back to 2017 in each month since February 2025,” according to the report.
Actually, price reductions have become more common in each of the past six months — a trend suggesting that sellers are adjusting their expectations:
- In the face of weaker buyer demand stemming from affordability challenges; and
- Amid increasing competition from other sellers due to rising inventory.
Regionally, price reductions in June were significantly more common in the South and West (23% of listings) than they were in the Northeast (13% of listings), reflecting the inventory divergence across these regions.
