Current market trends suggest that we may see a more normal pace of homebuying in the second half of this year.

New listings showed signs of a comeback in June as home prices broke a new record for the fifth month in a row at $385,000, according to the Realtor.com® Monthly Housing Report released today. While the number of homes for sale remained drastically lower than normal with a 43.1% decline over last year, June marks a significant improvement over last month's 50.9% decline. "Although there's still a significant shortage of homes for sale and home prices just hit a new high, our June data report shows good news on the horizon for buyers," said Realtor.com® Senior Economist George Ratiu.

"Inventory declines improved over the steep drops seen earlier in the pandemic as sellers stepped back into the market in a variety of price ranges across the country. The improvement we saw in new listings growth from May to June shows sellers are entering the market historically later in the season, which could mean we'll see home buying continue into the fall as buyers jump at new opportunities," he continued. According to the Realtor.com® data, June new listings increased 5.5% year-over-year and 10.9% over last month. Among the largest U.S. metros, the 10 markets with the highest new listings increases posted gains of 20% or more year-over-year.  Although there were fewer homes actively for sale on a typical day in June compared to last year and to the average June from 2017-2019, the uptick in newly listed homes may be giving buyers more homes to choose from and potentially more time to make decisions. If these trends persist, inventory declines and price growth may continue to moderate as the housing market returns to a more normal pace of activity heading into the second half of 2021.

Source: NAR