I want to walk you through what Realtor.com Research is seeing in the national housing picture as of late August, because some of these patterns are really relevant to what we're watching here in the Bay Area and the broader East Bay region.
According to Realtor.com Research, we're now nine months into a stretch where asking prices have been sliding year-over-year. But here's the interesting part that caught my attention: their new research suggests this isn't necessarily a sign that buyers have disappeared. Instead, it looks like sellers are being smarter about pricing from day one rather than listing high and hoping. This realistic approach is actually helping move homes even while the market faces some headwinds overall.
What's driving a lot of this behavior is that mortgage rates have climbed back above where they were a year ago, which means affordability is tight and we're seeing something called the lock-in effect take hold. Their cross-market demand data shows that across the largest metros in the country, over sixty percent of homebuyers are now searching outside their own metro area, compared to just under fifty percent before the pandemic. People with great rates from years ago are staying put, and those shopping are increasingly willing to look at more affordable markets.
The inventory picture has shifted dramatically. Active listings are now climbing toward levels we haven't seen since late 2019, and we're up to 1.14 million homes for sale nationally. That's still below what we saw before the pandemic, but the Realtor.com team notes that some of the top markets, particularly in the South and West, now actually have more inventory than they did pre-pandemic.
On pricing, the median listing price came in at $420,000 this week, which is the lowest point since early April. Price per square foot also fell to $223, and we're seeing year-over-year declines that have now stretched thirty-two weeks in a row. On the sales speed front, homes are moving at roughly the same pace or faster than they were last year, which has now held true for thirteen straight weeks.
What I'm seeing locally here in the Bay Area and Fremont is that our market dynamics don't mirror the national story perfectly, but these trends are giving us important context. Our sellers need to understand that realistic pricing works better than ever, and buyers looking at our inventory should know that the mortgage rate environment means competition can vary significantly week to week. We're in a market where both sides benefit from being practical and well-informed about what's actually happening in their backyard versus what's happening nationally.
