The growth of home prices slowed in May, and inventory continued to shrink, according to a new Realtor.com report.
Realtor.com’s May Monthly Housing Trends Report found active inventory fell in 21 of 50 of the largest metros as fewer sellers are listing their homes, increasing buyer competition.
Seattle’s active listings fell 10.8%, and new listings fell 40.7%, compared to the same month last year.
Realtor.com’s Chief Economist Danielle Hale said April and May are historically popular months for buyers, and usually this time of year the market has exceeded the prior year’s peak home price.
“Weakening home price growth for the past 12 months is increasing the odds that we may not see a new home price peak this year, for the first time in the history of our listing data, which dates back to mid-2016, and this is likely welcome news to homeshoppers,” Hale said.
“The good news for sellers is that buyers are still out there, and this month’s slower growth in the active inventory of homes for sale indicates that shoppers are in the market and actively searching for homes that fit their needs and budget.”
Home price growth stalled in May with the median list price growing to $441,000, up from $430,000 in April but down 1.7% from June 2022’s $449,000 record high. That annual growth rate slowed in May to just 0.9%, the lowest price growth on record.
The median list price fell in 15 of the largest 50 metros with the greatest declines seen in Texas, where Austin prices fell 7.3% from last year, Houston was down 5.9% and San Antonio was down 5.8%.
Seattle’s median list price was $823,00 in May, down 0.3% from 2022.
None of the 50 largest metros had a year-over-year increase in new listings in May. Listing activity fell 20.4% in the South, 32.9% in the West, 22.9% in the Northeast and 22.8% in the Midwest.
Homes are also taking longer to sell. In May they took two weeks longer than they did a year ago, with a typical home spending 43 days on market. While that’s 14 days longer than a year ago, it’s nine days faster than the pre-pandemic average.