Home listings soared to record $700 billion in April, report shows
FILE-A "New Listing" sign outside a home in Napa, California, on May 6, 2024. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Home sellers are facing challenges finding buyers amid constant changes in the housing market.
The scarcity of home buyers purchasing a house resulted in a record $698 billion worth of homes for sale in the U.S. in April, the highest number for listings going back to 2012, according to a Redfin report.
Redfin also noted that there were almost 500,000 more home sellers than buyers in April.
Nearly half of home listings were on the market in April
By the numbers:
According to Redfin, 44% of home listings in April were on the market for about 60 days without going under contract, which is referred to as "stale inventory."
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Redfin defines stale inventory as home listings that spend at least 60 days on the market and are actively listed for sale on the final day of the relevant month.
The report shows that the total number of homes on the market in the U.S. increased over 16.7% year over year in April to its highest level in 5 years. New listings also spiked 8.6% to a 3-year high. Homeowners reluctant to sell because they have lower mortgage rates are now trying to cash out due to economic uncertainty.
According to the report, the median home sale price rose 1.6% year over year to $431,931 in April, and monthly home payments still jumped to a record high since mortgage rates and prices remained high. The average 30-year-fixed mortgage rate was 6.73% in April.
Moreover, the typical house sold in April took 40 days to go under contract, five days longer than in 2024. According to the report, there’s also a growing amount of inventory that has been sitting on the market for longer than two months.
Why are so many homes for sale on the market?
Why you should care:
There are a variety of reasons why the housing market is seeing a high number of homes for sale and listings.
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Redfin explained in their report that some factors behind this are homes are sitting on the market longer, homebuying demand is declining related to high monthly housing costs and uncertainty in the economy, and soaring home prices.
Separately, Redfin predicts that the median U.S. home-sale price will drop to 1% year over year by the end of 2025, and housing prices might fall even more in certain locations.
How did Redfin gather data for their report?
Dig deeper:
Redfin factored in analysis of listings on its website going back to 2012. The team noted that for the total dollar value of houses on the market, researchers added up the list price of all active listings as of the last day of each month. April 2025 is the most recent month when data is available.
According to Redfin’s report, the term "value" is replaceable with "list price," and when they refer to "total home value," the team means the sum of all list prices. Redfin also defines "stale inventory" as home listings that spend at least 60 days on the market and are actively listed for sale on the final day of the relevant month.
The Source: Information for this story was provided by a Redfin report that collected data for the total dollar value of houses on the market. Researchers added up the list price of all active listings as of the last day of each month. April 2025 is the most recent month when data is available. This story was reported from Washington, D.C.