Today’s housing market feels different depending on where you’re standing.
Buyers in certain areas are experiencing conditions better than we’ve seen in years. Sellers in other markets have seen shifts that are difficult to see nationwide twelve months ago. Homeowners deciding whether (or when) to list their home face a far more complex picture than the sound bites would have you believe.
Let’s take a look at what the data really shows, and how it should impact the homeowner decision making process today.
Slowing price appreciation and increasing inventory at the national level
Entering 2026, the U.S. housing market is showing signs that growth is slowing.
Annual price growth was just 0.7% at the beginning of the year, less than the 3.5% pace we saw at the start of last year and one of the lowest increases since prices bottomed out after the Great Recession. Inventory levels are up as well, as several markets across the country enjoy more housing supply than we’ve seen in years.
The result is a welcome comeback story for buyers who found themselves outpriced (or outbid) during the heyday of the past decade. Buyers are finally getting some breathing room.
Sellers, on the other hand, have to grapple with new levels of competition. Many homes that would have sold quickly last year are receiving fewer offers, or failing to sell at all. The cooled-off market has forced pricing expectations down in many markets — but many homeowners are still trying to list at peak year prices.
Different Stories in Different Markets
Buyers looking at the national average could be forgiven for thinking prices are falling.
In many parts of the Midwest and Northeast, they kind of are. Year-over-year price declines are showing up in markets like Illinois, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Wisconsin thanks to a more favorable combination of home values and local employment.
But pricing pressures are moving in the opposite direction in many Sun Belt and Western markets. States like Florida, Colorado, Utah, and much of the Southwest are seeing double-digit percentages of active listings experience price reductions, as artificially low inventory levels from 2021 and 2022 normalize.
As always, national numbers tell you little about what’s happening in your backyard. Local market conditions matter most.
Mortgage rates have ticked down in recent months, but the storm has passed
Mortgage rates have finally started moving in the right direction. Rates that spent the last three years floating above 7% have finally dipped into the 6.0%-6.3% range. While that’s still well above the historic average, many economists point to 6% as a psychological benchmark for buyers who have been waiting for a downshift.
The trouble is that lowering rates hasn’t opened the floodgates quite yet. Millions of homeowners who locked in 2% or 3% mortgages during the pandemic are still reluctant to give those rates up. As a result, new listings have not yet come online at the levels some were expecting, keeping inventory constrained even as demand picks up slowly.
Expect to see gradual improvement in housing market activity as we head into the traditional spring buying season. But for many homes, the trapped demand from the last few years won’t release like a burst dam.
There Are Still Far Too Few Homes For Sale
If you spend any amount of time reading housing market statistics, you’ve likely missed the news that there are still far too few homes for sale.
Yes, even with recent improvements in housing inventory, there were over four million fewer homes available to buy in 2025 than there should have been to meet demand, according to Realtor.com’s annual Housing Supply Report. Construction hasn’t kept pace with demand for the better part of a decade.
The undersupply of housing is the reason we’re seeing prices continue to rise nationwide despite slowing appreciation rates. Until more supply comes online — and demand returns to something approaching normal — we won’t see home prices move significantly lower.
There are no guarantees
But for homeowners sitting on a decision about whether to list their home, one thing is certain about today’s market:
There are no guarantees.
Hot markets with strong demand and limited inventory may still provide speedy and favorable sales for owners who list their homes this spring. But the days of any home selling instantly at or above asking price are behind us.
As inventory increases in previously hot markets, selling will take longer than it has in years past. And price reductions are happening more frequently, even in markets that haven’t historically experienced that trend.
If your home needs updates before it could sell, if you’re dealing with special circumstances like a divorce or job relocation, or if you simply don’t have the luxury of waiting for a buyer to come along… today’s housing market likely presents more risk than opportunities.
At least, more risk than it did a few years ago.
What Investors Are Seeing (and How that Impacts Your Offers)
Investorsaren’t immune to macro market trends. In fact, they’re feeling many of the same pressures as anyone looking to buy a home right now.
Slowing appreciation, higher interest rates, and increased inventory all factor into the offers investors are willing to make on your home. In markets where appreciation is slowing or prices are declining, there’s less room for error on the rehab and resale side of an investor’s math. Markets with stronger rental demand are seeing more investors buy and hold for the long term.
What’s happening now is a reset. Home prices are stabilizing. Market conditions are finding a new normal. Investors have recalibrated their offers to align with today’s reality — and are less likely to overpay for a property simply because they can.
Coming to Terms with a Changed Housing Market
Let’s be honest: the housing market isn’t what it used to be.
Rapidly climbing prices, bidding wars, and easy financing drove values to levels that were untenable (and prompted dangerously low inventory levels). Today’s housing market is slowing down, and rightfully so.
What we don’t know is what will replace it.
A soft landing? Another foreclosure crisis? Boom-and-bust price appreciation driven by speculators?
One thing we do know is that rising home prices won’t reliably solve the homeownership question for years to come. And for homeowners wondering what to do in this new landscape, today’s environment creates far more questions than it had just twelve months ago.
Should I list my home?
If your home is in move-in condition, located in a stable market, and you have some flexibility to negotiate on price and timeline, yes.
But if your home needs updates before it would sell, if you have unique circumstances creating a time crunch to sell, or if you’re counting on getting a certain price to buy another home in a short amount of time… you’ll want to think twice.
The market’s changed.
And so should your strategy.