Sellers Are Testing the Market Again and It Could Spell Good News for Homebuyers

The flood of new listings hitting the market is affecting homes that have already been listed. Active inventory climbed 12.8% year over year, according to the Realtor.com® Weekly Housing Trends report.

But economists say there could be a reason for the sellers willing to test the market right now.

"In the same way the lower mortgage rates are getting buyers off the sidelines, they could be getting sellers on the fence to list as well," says Joel Berner, senior economist at Realtor.com. "Better financing helps transactions happen, so it could be the case that this is what would be sellers have been waiting for."

Mortgage rates continue to remain closer to the 6% range. For the week ending Nov. 6, the average rate on a 30-year fixed home loan came in a 6.22%, according to Freddie Mac. Rates averaged 6.79% during the same period in 2024.

But the talk of the week has been the Trump administration proposing a 50-year mortgage. Realtor.com economists say that while the market conditions show that a boost to demand would be welcome, the 50-year mortgage comes with tradeoffs that can prevent it from solving the housing market's issues.

"The design of this proposal is to boost homebuyer demand, which has been subdued for the last several years as mortgage rates have been stuck in the 6+% range," Berner explains. "More flexible financing is essentially a subsidy for housing demand, which will add to the pool and buying power of homebuyers without increasing the supply of homes, which will drive home prices up. The 'savings' from 50-year mortgages may be totally negated by rising home prices."

New listings were up 10.5% for the week ending Nov. 8, compared to the same period a year ago. This is in addition to the number of active listings. There were about 1.1 million homes for sale last week, marking the 28th week in a row over the million-listing threshold.

Homes are also sitting on the market longer—five days more than a year ago. The median time on the market rose to 64 days this week—which is about as long as it took to sell a home before the pandemic.

"Price reductions are up so it’s definitely the case that sellers are willing to compromise to get homes moved. The longer homes sit on the market, the more likely these price cuts become," explains Berner.

The median list price dropped compared to the same week a year prior. As it stands, the national median list price edged up 0.4% in October from a year ago to $424,200. Price per square foot decreased 1.1% year over year—this is the tenth straight week of declines, after the price per square foot was growing steadily for almost two years.

But with prices holding steady and homes spending more time on the market, buyers won't have to rush into any decisions and may be able to negotiate a price cut.

"Buyers are in a position of power in a lot of markets and can definitely afford to offer low. The longer a home has been sitting, the more likely it will accept a low offer," Berner says. "No widespread rule of thumb, but buyers can take their comfortable budget and expand up slightly to find homes that might accept a number that they can afford."