US home asking prices in June saw the biggest annual drop since 2017 as sellers adjusted to market conditions to attract buyers, News Corp's (NWS, NWSA) Realtor.com said Wednesday.
The national median listing price fell 2.5% year over year to $430,000 last month, marking the steepest annual decline since 2017 and an eighth straight month of drops, according to a report by the online real estate portal. Pending sales increased 3.7% from a year earlier, the seventh consecutive monthly gain.
"Eight straight months of falling prices and seven straight months of rising pending sales are not a contradiction. And they have to be considered together to get a full picture of what's happening in housing right now," Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale said.
"Sellers are reading market conditions and are pricing accordingly from the start rather than listing high and cutting later, and buyers are taking note and making bids," Hale said. "This is a welcome sign that we are in a functioning market."
The median home spent 53 days on the market last month, steady with a year earlier and marking the first time in 26 months that homes spent no more time on market than they did a year earlier, according to the report.
Median listing prices have dropped 7.3% in the West from the peak level of $449,000 in June 2022, while the South has seen a 3.5% fall. In contrast, prices have jumped nearly 13% in the Northeast and 10% in the Midwest, the data showed.
"The two Americas story in housing is now four years in the making," Realtor.com Senior Economist Jake Krimmel said. "In the West and South, prices gave ground back as affordability limits were tested. In the Midwest and Northeast, supply stayed tight enough and demand strong enough that prices kept climbing even through a historic rate shock."
June showed initial signs of typical seasonal deceleration, as price cuts ticked up to 19% and new listings flattened, according to Krimmel. "So far, the leading indicators are holding, so we do not expect the market to stall out like it did last summer," Krimmel said.
Price: $29.41, Change: $+1.35, Percent Change: +4.81%
