Housing News

Home Prices Are Falling, and Homebuyers Are Coming Back

Home prices are falling, and homebuyers appear to be taking notice.

Nationally, asking prices dropped 2.5% year-over-year to a median $430,000 in June, according to Realtor.com’s June 2026 Monthly Housing Trends Report. That’s the steepest annual decline in Realtor.com data since 2017 and the eighth month in a row that prices have fallen.

At the same time, pending home sales rose 3.7% from a year earlier as more buyers jumped into the market. That marked seven consecutive months of more homes going under contract.

“Eight straight months of falling prices and seven straight months of rising pending sales are not a contradiction,” Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, said in a statement. “And they have to be considered together to get a full picture of what’s happening in housing right now.”

The picture emerging this summer is a housing market that may finally be finding a better balance. Sellers are adjusting their expectations, homebuyers are responding, and more deals are moving forward.

Here’s what homebuyers need to know.

Lower asking prices are bringing homebuyers back

Lower home list prices are helping to fill open houses and leading to more home tours. The 2.5% annual drop in prices is especially notable because it is not driven only by buyers choosing smaller homes. The price per square foot also fell 2.1% year-over-year.

For homebuyers who have spent the past few years watching home prices climb, the shift could create a more approachable market.

“The housing market kicked off the summer on steady footing,” said Hannah Jones, senior economist at Realtor.com.

Sellers also appear to be adjusting their expectations earlier. The share of listings with a price reduction was 18.8% in June, down about two percentage points from a year ago.

“Sellers are reading market conditions and are pricing accordingly from the start rather than listing high and cutting later, and buyers are taking note and making bids,” said Hale. “This is a welcome sign that we are in a functioning market.”

The result is a market where more home prices may be starting closer to a price buyers are willing to pay.

More homes are going under contract

Lower asking prices appear to be getting a response.

The number of listings in pending status rose 3.7% year-over-year in June. Pending sales have now increased for seven consecutive months, the longest stretch of growth since late 2020 through mid-2021.

Jones said rising pending home sales suggest buyers are adapting to current housing conditions.

“More are finding workable opportunities than this time last year,,” said Jones. “And those who come in with realistic expectations and financial flexibility are best positioned to take advantage of them.”

Homebuyers have more than 1.1 million homes to choose from

The number of active listings of homes for sale reached 1,102,615 in June, up 4.1% from May and 1.9% from a year ago.

More housing stock can give buyers a better chance to compare properties, consider different neighborhoods, and avoid making rushed decisions.

New listings also rose 2.4% year-over-year to 463,480, led by a 12.6% increase in the Northeast.

The market, however, has not fully returned to its pre-pandemic balance. The number of homes for sale nationwide remains 11.3% below typical 2017 through 2019 levels.

Still, among the 50 largest metro areas, 35 had more homes for sale than they did a year ago.

The housing market looks very different depending on where you live

The national numbers only tell part of the story.

Asking prices fell 4% year-over-year in the West and 2.5% in the South in June. Prices declined 1% in the Northeast and were flat in the Midwest.

The divide becomes even clearer when looking back to the national price peak of $449,000 in June 2022.

Since then, median asking prices have fallen 7.3% in the West and 3.5% in the South. In the Midwest, they have risen 10%, while the Northeast is up 12.6%.

“The two Americas story in housing is now four years in the making,” Jake Krimmel, senior economist at Realtor.com, said in a statement. “In the West and South, prices gave ground back as affordability limits were tested. In the Midwest and Northeast, supply stayed tight enough and demand strong enough that prices kept climbing.”

The typical home spent 53 days on the market in June, the same as a year earlier.

The milestone ended a 26-month stretch in which homes consistently took longer to sell than they had the previous year.

The typical home is now spending about as much time on the market as it did before the pandemic.

For buyers, a more normal pace may give them a little more breathing room and time to make a decision.  

“Stable home prices, days on market, and mortgage rates give buyers a clearer baseline to build a budget and set expectations, something that’s been in short supply over the past few years,” said Jones.