The U.S. housing market is continuing its shift toward a more balanced environment, with rising inventory and steady contract activity shaping February 2025’s trends. While new listings remain constrained, overall inventory levels have expanded significantly, providing buyers with more choices and softening competitive pressures.
Mirroring trends from the previous month, the supply of available homes continued its upward climb in April 2025. Total inventory is up a significant 21.4% compared to April 2024 and a substantial 41.6% from 2023, reaching its highest point since 2021. This growth has pushed the months of inventory to 5.22, a figure that now borders on the threshold of a buyer's market, offering more options and potentially greater negotiating power for those looking to purchase.
Interestingly, while net new listings for April 2025 saw a modest year-over-year increase of 2.9%, this was driven by a 7.0% surge in new listings being offset by a considerable 30.2% rise in removals compared to the same period last year. This suggests a dynamic where more properties are coming onto the market, but a larger proportion are also being taken off, perhaps due to unsuccessful initial listing periods or other factors.
Despite the near multi-year seasonal lows in overall listing activity, contract volume demonstrated encouraging strength. In April 2025, 309,367 properties went under contract, marking a healthy 6.3% increase compared to April 2024. This indicates that while the flow of new listings might be subdued by seasonal norms, buyer engagement remains active.
The median listing price for single-family homes across the U.S. in April 2025 stood at $462,825, a 1.9% increase year-over-year. The median closed price also saw positive movement, reaching $435,738, a 3.0% rise from the previous year. Similarly, the median price-per-square-foot for listed and closed properties also experienced year-over-year gains.
However, echoing last month's trend, sellers are increasingly adjusting their pricing expectations to meet market realities. Price cuts saw a significant jump of 39.2% compared to April 2024. While the sale-to-list price ratio remains relatively strong at 98.5%, this increase in price reductions suggests a market where buyers have a bit more leverage than in the recent past.
The single-family rental market continued to experience a substantial increase in available properties. Rental inventory was up 20.9% year-over-year and a striking 38.9% compared to 2023. Consequently, the median listed monthly rent saw a slight year-over-year decrease of 1.3% to $2,567, indicating that the growing inventory may be starting to moderate rental price growth.
This breakdown illustrates varying levels of activity across different price points, with lower-priced segments seeing a decrease in new listings but a notable increase in contract volume, suggesting strong demand in the more affordable ranges. Higher-priced segments generally saw more new listings come onto the market.
April's housing market data underscores a market in a state of delicate balance. While the increase in available inventory continues to shift the landscape towards more buyer-friendly conditions, the solid year-over-year growth in contract volume indicates that demand remains a significant factor. The continued, albeit moderating, price growth, coupled with a rise in price reductions, highlights the ongoing interplay between affordability and seller expectations.
As the housing market navigates the complexities of the spring season, access to timely and accurate data is paramount. HouseCanary remains committed to providing the insights and analysis that industry professionals need to understand these evolving trends and make informed decisions in the dynamic 2025 real estate environment.
The Market Pulse Report is an ongoing review of proprietary data and housing market trends from HouseCanary’s nationwide platform, covering 22 listing-derived metrics and comparing real estate data between April 2024 and April 2025.
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