U.S. listings pass 1.16 million as one in five sellers cuts the price

Housing inventory kept building in September 2026. Realtor.com's monthly data counted 1,161,615 active listings in the U.S., up 5.4% from September 2025 and 1.9% from August. The share of listings with a price cut rose to 20.8%, from 19.9% a year earlier: roughly one listing in five.

Inventory is close to normal now, not above it. September's count was still 5.2% below September 2019's 1,224,915, the last fall before the pandemic. What has changed is speed. Pending listings fell 4.1% from a year earlier to 422,936, and the pending ratio (pending divided by active) dropped to 0.36 from 0.40. Buyers have more to choose from and are taking longer to choose.

The median list price fell. Read it carefully.

The national median list price was $419,250, down 1.4% from $425,000 a year earlier. Two things are going on, and they matter when you quote the number:

• Some sellers are asking less. The median price per square foot fell 1.3%, to $223 from $226.
• The typical listing is smaller. The median listing size dropped to 1,825 square feet from 1,839. When more small homes come on the market, the median falls even if no single home's value does.

That is why price per square foot is the steadier gauge, and why the sale-price median tells a different story. NAR's median existing-home sale price for September was $417,500, up 1.3% from a year earlier. Listings show what sellers want; closings show what buyers paid. Both are right; they measure different things.

Days on market barely moved

The median listing spent 61 days on the market in September, one day less than a year earlier. Nationally, homes are not sitting longer than last fall; there are just more of them, and more are getting price cuts to sell in that time.