Housing market shows resilience as sales beat forecasts

The housing market continues to balance out, as home prices grew modestly, inventory increased and home sales exceeded expectations in May, a new industry report found.

The national median home sale price hit $395,000 last month, a 1.8% rise from May 2025, according to Homes.com's latest monthly housing market report. Active listings also reached 1.4 million homes, up 4.3% year over year, while sales fell 1.2% annually.

"Although home sales remained below their level from a year earlier, activity in May was firmer than anticipated following earlier increases in mortgage rates," said Brad Case, Homes.com chief residential economist, in a press release Wednesday. "Given those headwinds, the month's sales performance suggested that demand remained relatively steady."

Mortgage rates have been up and down this spring. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased for five consecutive weeks to begin March, followed by a 30-basis-point rise from April to the end of May. The 30-year rate has since hovered around 6.5%.

Despite this, about 335,000 homes were sold in May, with year-over-year changes varying slightly across property types. Single-family sales dropped 1%, while condo sales saw a 4% decline and townhome sales decreased 0.2%. Single-family homes also accounted for the most transactions at 277,160, compared to 25,754 townhome and 32,148 condo sales, according to the report.

Single-family homes led the group in price growth as well, jumping 1.5% annually, while condos and townhomes saw 1.1% and 0.3% increases, respectively.

"Steady demand alongside rising home prices suggests the housing market is proving more resilient, even with activity still somewhat subdued compared with historical norms," Case said.

Home sales fell 3.2% over the past three years, but were up 13.5% over the last five. Similarly, price growth rose 6.8% over the last three years and 49.1% since May 2021.

Regional differences in prices, sales and inventory

Prices increased most in San Francisco, by 9.6%, and relatively affordable Midwest cities, namely Pittsburgh, by 6.9%, St. Louis, by 6.6% and Detroit, by 6.1%. Prices fell most in Texas, Florida and coastal markets, led by San Jose, California, at -5.8%, San Antonio at -3.1% , Orlando, Florida, at -2.1% and Austin, Texas, at -2.1%, the report found.

Inventory grew in 72% of the 933 markets tracked by Homes.com, as Midwest cities like Columbus, Ohio, Pittsburgh and St. Louis made notable gains of 27.6%, 16.7% and 15.7%, respectively. 

Florida and California were home to the five markets with the largest decreases in inventory: Jacksonville, Florida, at -16.9%; San Francisco at -11.3%; Tampa, Florida, at -11.2%; Inland Empire, California, at -10.3%; and Miami at -9.1%. Miami was the only one to also post an annual decline in sale price, according to the report.

Home sales fell in 26 of the 40 largest markets in the United States, including New York at 14.6%, which has seen a decline in sales as of late. In contrast, San Francisco saw sales volume rise 12.2% in May, despite a drop in inventory and spike in prices. San Jose and Columbus experienced sales jump by 8% annually as well, the report found.