Dollar value of for-sale listings hits all-time high

The combined sum of for-sale listings on the market at the end of April hit a record, with homes both sitting on the market longer and more inventory arriving, according to a Redfin report.

The total value of listings came in at $698 billion at month's end, the real estate brokerage said. The amount surged 20.3% from April 2024 to the highest dollar value since Redfin began measuring the data in 2012. 

The rise comes as supply also grew that month, when inventory expanded 16.7% year over year. Brand new listings during the month increased 8.6%, while cancellations of previous agreements approached record levels as well. 

"The record-high dollar value of all homes listed for sale is one way to quantify this buyer's market," Chen Zhao, Redfin's head of economics research, said in a press release. 

"Not only are there more homes for sale than there have been in five years, but the value of those homes is higher than it has ever been," she added.

In the current market, there are approximately 500,000 more sellers than buyers looking for homes, a far cry from the competitive environment of a few years ago, Redfin said.

A favorable buyers' market gives aspiring homeowners more time to consider choices or wait if needed, agents said. 

"House hunters are only buying if they absolutely have to, and even serious buyers are backing out of contracts more than they used to. Buyers have a window to get a deal; there's still a surplus of inventory on the market, with sellers facing reality and willing to negotiate prices down," said Matt Purdy, a Redfin agent in Denver.

Suppressing sales volume is a still-challenging level of affordability, with required monthly payments rising as a result of increasing mortgage rates and prices. Despite favorable conditions for buyers this year, supply-and-demand conditions have yet to noticeably bring about lower home prices. 

Inventory is accumulating as properties sit on the market longer. Typical homes sold in April remained on the market for 40 days before going under contract, five days longer than the same month in 2024. Economic instability is also leading buyers to hesitate, Redfin's report said. 

How many homes have gone stale?

Further evidence of a glut in listings appears in stale home inventory, defined by Redfin as listings on the market for 60 days or more failing to go under contract. Approximately 44% of April listings had gone stale, making up $331 billion of total inventory value.

The stale share jumped up by 42.1% compared to April 2024 and accounted for the largest portion of the market since 2020, when markets reeled in the early months of the Covid pandemic. 

Current trends may finally noticeably benefit the buyer toward the end of the year, Zhao said. 

We expect rising inventory, weakened demand and the prevalence of stale supply to push home prices down 1% by the end of this year, which should improve affordability for buyers because incomes are still going up," she said.