A rise in new listings is finally giving potential homebuyers options as the summer market winds down. 

August ended with a surprise for homebuyers, a slowdown leaving more available listings for shoppers and lifting some of the drought of listings impacting the market, according to a new Zillow report.

“Those still shopping for homes late in summer were offered a bit of relief, and not all from expected sources. Competition for houses tends to ease up at this time of year, giving buyers more time to decide and a better chance to negotiate on price,” said Jeff Tucker, Zillow senior economist. “What we didn’t expect — especially considering 7-plus-percent mortgage rates — was more new listings. The inventory crunch is still far from resolved, but this was a small step in the right direction.”

There were nearly 350,000 homes for sale in the U.S. last month, 4% more than in July. And while the report noted they were still 20% below where they were before the pandemic, it did give potential buyers more choices at a time of year when there typically aren’t many. 

Seattle listings actually fell in August, down 2.3 % month over month and down 17.8% from last year.

“New listings have contracted every August in Zillow data going back to 2018,” the report said, which noted that the bump helped “halve an annual deficit in new listings, from -26% year over year in July to -13% in August.”

Home values also rose last month, up 0.2% from July, which Zillow noted was “a marked cooldown after red-hot monthly appreciation in the spring and early summer.” That brought the typical U.S. home value to an all-time high of $351,423, 1.3% higher than it was a year ago. 

Home values in Seattle, where the average home value is $713,666, stayed level from July but fell 2.4% from last year.