Home prices falling in half of U.S., new real estate data shows
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A home for sale in the Miami Shores neighborhood of Miami on Wednesday. Photo: Zak Bennett/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Home prices are now falling in about half the country, according to new data from the National Association of Realtors.
Why it matters: The housing market has been a significant driver in wealth creation for Americans in recent years.
- U.S. home prices rose by 49% in the six years from July 2019 to July 2025, according to NAR.
The big picture: The market is tipping in favor of buyers.
- "Homebuyers are in the best position in more than five years to find the right home and negotiate for a better price," NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement. "Current inventory is at its highest since May 2020, during the COVID lockdown."
- Zillow on Monday reported that sellers cut prices on 27.4% of listings in July, the highest share since it began tracking the metric in 2018.
Between the lines: Prices are holding up the worst in the West, where the median price fell 1.4% to $620,700 in July, NAR reported.
- Prices also fell 0.6% in the South to $367,400.
Nationally, the median price of existing-homes was $421,400 in July, up 0.2% from a year ago.
- That was the 25th straight month of increases but also marked the lowest rate of price hikes in two years, Bloomberg noted.
- The Midwest recorded a 3.9% increase in prices to $333,800, while the Northeast posted a 0.8% rise to $509,300.
Threat level: After the huge runup during the pandemic, national home prices were 10.5% overvalued in the first quarter, according to Fitch Ratings estimates released last week.
- U.S. homebuilders started construction on new homes at the quickest pace in five months in July, though permits for future projects were the weakest since 2020, Axios' Courtenay Brown reported.
Yes, but: Don't expect prices to fall significantly as inventory remains low and mortgage rates remain elevated.
- "We have a hard time seeing how affordability is going to improve any time soon," Jefferies analyst Thomas Simons said Thursday in a research note. "New entrants are finding increasing difficulty in breaking into the market due to high prices, high mortgage rates, and high competition for limited supply."
The bottom line: The slowdown is here.
