Buyers continue to back off, but sellers remain adamant, unwilling to lower prices or give in. As a result, the housing market that was stagnant in September has now become just as stagnant in October, with an increasingly bloated inventory.

According to the data from Realtor.com, the active inventory in October reached 183,500 units, an increase of 7.4% compared to the same period last year. This represents the fastest year-on-year growth in 8 months. Since February, the number of active listings has been rising each month. Nevertheless, the actual number of newly listed properties has decreased, by 7.5% compared to October 2025.

In the past few years, the U.S. housing market has been facing a severe shortage of supply, which stems from the housing boom in the two years before the pandemic, during which mortgage rates hit more than a dozen historical lows. Today, the national supply is only 6.6% lower than the typical level before the pandemic, representing the smallest gap since the outbreak.

Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale stated: "Both ends of the market are cooling down, but in different ways. Due to higher mortgage loan rates weakening purchasing power, buyers are pulling back; at the same time, the frequency of sellers putting properties up for sale is decreasing, but there has been no widespread withdrawal from the market or price cuts." She said, "We see a pause in new supply, but homeowners who have already listed their properties seem to be largely unaffected."

In October, only slightly over 20% of sellers lowered their prices, which is roughly the same as in September and last October. There was also no significant increase in the number of sellers withdrawing their products from sale.

Mortgage loan rates fell slightly month-on-month in October, but they are still more than one percentage point higher than a year ago. This continues to drag down sales. According to data from Zillow, new sales that have been signed but not yet completed saw a year-on-year decline of 16.8% in October. This is the largest year-on-year decrease since August 2023 and also the slowest October since 2018.

Despite a slight decline in interest rates, housing prices continue to rise. According to Zillow, assuming a down payment of 20% and excluding taxes and insurance, the monthly mortgage payment for a typical home in the United States in October is $2004, which is a 12.8% increase from the same period last year and a 4.8% increase from September. This represents the largest single-month increase in four years.

Zillow Chief Economist Mischa Fisher stated in a statement: "The contraction in November seems to be even more significant, but the good news is that next month may be the worst of it." He said, "I expect the slowdown to ease over the new year. In the coming months, buyers who can withstand the challenges of affordability will still have opportunities to make purchases; and the continuously accumulating inventory means that if interest rates ease, there is significant room for sales to increase next year."