Sales of Existing Homes in 2025 Drop to Lowest since 1995, Sellers Massively Yank Listings off the Market, Waiting for Spring
by Wolf Richter • Jan 14, 2026 • 0 Comments
Single-family home sales edged up in 2025, condo sales dropped further.
By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET.
Annual sales of all types of existing homes declined by 0.2% in 2025, from the prior year, the fourth year in a row of declines, to 4.06 million homes, the lowest since 1995, with single-family home sales ticking up a hair, and condo and co-op sales dropping further.
Monthly sales that closed in December rose by 1.4% year-over-year, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.35 million homes, the best December since 2021, but still down by 29% from December 2021, according to the National Association of Realtors today.
For the past three years, home sales have run essentially at the same collapsed pace, down by 34% from the pandemic high of 2021 and down by 43% from the all-time high in 2005 (historic data via YCharts).
Single-family home sales in 2025 ticked up by 0.5% to 3.69 million homes. But that was still down by 32% from the pandemic high in 2021, and down by 40% from the all-time high in 2005.
Monthly sales that closed in December rose by 1.8% year-over-year to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.95 million homes, the best December since 2021, but down by 27% from December 2021.
Condo and Co-op sales in 2025 fell by 4.6% to 373,000, the lowest in the data by NAR going back to 2009, down by 32% from the pandemic high in 2021, and down by 40% from the all-time high in 2021.
But the condo bubble of 2021, when sales exploded to 707,000 and prices exploded in many markets, is now sticking out like a sore thumb. Since then, condo prices have been careening down in many markets, and in some markets are down by 30% and more from their peaks in prior years.
Monthly condo sales that closed in December fell by 2.4% year-over-year to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 400,000 condos, along with December 2023 the worst December on record, and down by 41% from December 2021.
Yanking their listings off the market over the holidays.Supply of homes for sale always plunges in December as sellers yank their listings off the market over the holidays, only to relist them in the spring.
In November, supply of all homes combined had been the highest for any November in many years. But in December, sellers ran out of patience, and the yanking-fest was bigger than in some prior Decembers, especially with condos.
Supply of single-family homes fell to 3.3 months in December (red line with big squares in the chart below), a steep drop from November (4.0 months), which had been the highest for any November since 2018.
But even the sharply lower supply in December was still the highest for any December since 2018.
In terms of condos, sellers yanked their condos off the market at a stunning pace over the holidays, amid little demand and big haircuts on prices in many markets – to relist them in the spring.
Only 32,000 condos were sold in December, but inventory plunged by 79,000 condos, or by 42.5%, from the prior month. That’s the force of delisting over the holidays.
Supply — which is inventory divided by the sales rate — plunged to 3.2 months, from 5.6 months in November, which had been the highest for any November since 2011 during the Housing Bust.
The national median price of single-family homes fell by 1.3% in December from November along seasonal patterns, to $409,500, just 0.2% above December 2024 ($408,500).
This national median price of single-family homes had exploded by 47% from June 2020 through June 2025, most of it during the two years of mid-2020 to mid-2022.
January or February usually marks the seasonal low each year, June the seasonal high. The index is not seasonally adjusted. The seasonal zigzag is a result of shifts in the mix of what is on the market and sells, which shifts the median price up or down.
But price dynamics differ dramatically from market to market, and the national median price is meaningless for specific markets. In some markets, home prices have fallen substantially, including by 24% in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos metro, the biggest drop in our lineup of 33 large and expensive housing markets. Conversely, the Milwaukee-Waukesha metro is the market with the biggest year-over-year gain (+4.1%) and record prices.
The national median price of condos and co-ops rose by 1.3% in December from November, on dismal sales volume that shifted the mix of what sold. Year-over-year, the median price was up by 1.5%.
This national median price of condos and co-ops had exploded by 43% from mid-2020 through mid-2025, most of it during the two years of mid-2020 to mid-2022.
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