The frozen market
Listings collapsed in the pandemic and still haven't fully come back.
Realtor.com's listing data show how thin the housing market got. Active listings fell from about 1.3 million in 2017 to 346,514 in February 2022, roughly a quarter of their mid-2019 level. Homes sold in a median of 30 days that spring.
The first squeeze was pandemic demand. The second was the mortgage-rate lock-in. Most homeowners had refinanced into mortgages below 4%; when rates passed 7%, selling meant giving that up. So people stayed put, and inventory stayed scarce.
Supply has come back slowly. As of July 2026 there are 1.13 million active listings, about 91% of the mid-2019 level, and homes take a median of 57 days to sell, back to normal. Listing prices per square foot are 49% above 2019 but have been slipping, down 2.2% from a year earlier.
Listings and days on market are seasonal, peaking in summer, so compare the same months across years rather than month to month.
- ACTLISCOUUS · Housing Inventory: Active Listing Count in the United States
- MEDDAYONMARUS · Housing Inventory: Median Days on Market in the United States
- MEDLISPRIPERSQUFEEUS · Housing Inventory: Median Listing Price per Square Feet in the United States