Report: Housing Entering Expected Seasonal Summer Slowdown

The housing market is settling into its expected summer slowdown, with sellers increasingly adjusting prices while buyer demand continues to hold up, according to the Realtor.com July 2026 Monthly Housing Trends Report.

The national median list price was $428,950 in July, unchanged from June but down 2.4% from a year ago — the ninth consecutive month of annual price declines. At the same time, the share of listings with a price reduction rose to 20%, just 0.6 percentage points below last July after running nearly two percentage points below year-ago levels throughout the spring. Pending sales increased 1.3% year over year, extending their growth streak to eight months—though momentum has slowed from 4.1% in May and 3.7% in June.

"July's data show a market that is cooling seasonally, not coming apart," said Danielle Hale, chief economist, Realtor.com. "Sellers are making more price adjustments as summer progresses, and buyers are responding more selectively, but homes are still going under contract at a faster pace than last year. The key question for the months ahead is whether price reductions help sustain buyer engagement or signal that sellers are getting ahead of softer demand."

The median home spent 57 days on the market in July, four days longer than in June but one day less than a year ago — the first outright annual decline after 26 consecutive months in which homes took longer to sell than the year before. The July pace matches the pre-pandemic norm for the month.

Price cuts rise

Sellers reduced prices on 20% of active listings in July, up 1.2 percentage points from June and down just 0.6 percentage points from a year earlier. That year-over-year gap narrowed sharply from June, when the share was 1.9 percentage points below the prior year.

The regional pattern is notable: price cuts remain least common in the Northeast, at 13.7% of listings, and the Midwest, at 18.7%. However, both regions are now above their year-ago rates, by 1.0 percentage points and 0.3 percentage points, respectively. In contrast, price-cut shares remain below last year's levels in the South, at 21.3%, and West, at 21.9%.

Among the 50 largest metros, price reductions were least common in Hartford 9.0%, New York 9.7%, Buffalo 10.5%). They were most common in Portland 31.0%, Denver 30.9%, Dallas 28.3%Twelve of the 50 largest metros had at least one-quarter of active listings with a price reduction.

Asking prices continue to ease

The national median list price fell 2.4% year over year, a smaller decline than June's 2.5% drop. Price per square foot — which adjusts for differences in the size mix of homes for sale — declined 2% from a year earlier. It is now down in 34 of the 50 largest metros.

Price trends continued to vary sharply by region. Median list prices declined 3.9% in the West and 2.5% in the South, 1.4% in the Northeast and grew 0.2% in the Midwest. On a price-per-square-foot basis, the Midwest (+1.8%) and Northeast (+0.6%) posted gains, while the South (-2.9%) and West (-1.2%) continued to decline. 

Austin, Texas (-8.5%), Memphis, Tenn. (-6.0%) and Tampa, Fla. (-4.8%) saw the largest annual declines in list price per square foot among the 50 largest metros. Providence +8.3%, Indianapolis +4.8%, Hartford +4.5% recorded the largest gains.

Inventory growth stalls nationally; Midwest and Northeast pull ahead

Active listings rose 2.1% from June and 2.1% from a year ago to 1,126,252. National inventory growth has remained in the low single digits in recent months, leaving the number of homes for sale 11.6% below typical 2017–2019 levels.

Inventory growth was strongest in the Midwest (+9.3%) and Northeast (+8.3%), while the South was essentially flat (-0.2%) and the West edged up 0.6%. Thirty-four of the 50 largest metros recorded annual inventory gains, led by Minneapolis (+29.3%), Louisville, Ky. (+24.9%) and Seattle (+21.4%). Jacksonville, Fla. (-20.0%), Miami (-16.9%) and San Francisco (-16.3%) saw the sharpest declines.

Pending sales stay positive

The stock of listings in pending status rose 1.3% year over year in July, marking the eighth straight month of annual growth. It is the first eight-month stretch of year-over-year pending-sales growth since November 2020 through June 2021.

Still, the pace has softened over the past two months. "The summer test is whether sellers and buyers stay aligned as activity slows," said Jake Krimmel, senior economist, Realtor.com. "In July, homes are not sitting longer than they did a year ago and pending sales are still positive, which argues for a normal seasonal cooldown. But price cuts are moving closer to last year's pace, so August will be important: if cuts accelerate while pending sales weaken and sellers pull listings, that would be a more concerning combination."