United States Housing Market Update - December 2025

December closed 2025 with more homes available than a year earlier, but softer pricing and slower market momentum. The historical CSV places the national median list price at $399,950, down 0.63% year over year, while active inventory rose 12.08% and total listings increased 8.58%. New listings fell 1.82%, and homes spent a median 73 days on the market—four days longer than in December 2024. The accompanying report emphasized that the national averages continued to mask major regional and metro-level differences.

Median List Price -- Trailing 12 Months

Pricing and Value

Metric	Value
National Average List Price	$698,569 (-1.7% YoY)
National Median List Price	$399,950 (-0.6% YoY)
National Median List Price Per Sq Ft	$220/sq ft (-1.3% YoY)
National Median Square Feet	1,800 (0% YoY)

Market Speed and Competition

Metric	Value
National Median Days on Market	73 days (+4 days YoY)
National Price-Increased Share	0.9% (-0.1 percentage points YoY)
National Price-Reduced Share	12.9% (+0 percentage points YoY)

Supply Snapshot

Metric	Value
National Active Listings	976,833 (+12.1% YoY)
National Total Listings	1,318,754 (+8.6% YoY)

Market Activity

Metric	Value
National New Listings	233,430 (-1.8% YoY)
National Pending Listings	344,912 (-0.3% YoY)
National Pending Ratio	35.3 (-4.4 percentage points YoY)

What This Means for Sellers

• Active inventory rose 12.08% and total listings increased 8.58%, creating more competition among sellers than a year earlier.
• The median list price declined 0.63%, the average list price fell 1.67%, and the median price per square foot dropped 1.26%, reinforcing the importance of pricing for current conditions.
• The typical listing spent 73 days on the market, four days longer than a year earlier, while 12.89% of listings had a price reduction.
• The pending ratio fell 4.4 percentage points to 35.31%, suggesting that a smaller share of the available listing pool was moving under contract.

What This Means for Buyers

• Active and total inventory both increased year over year, giving buyers more choices at the national level.
• List prices and price per square foot softened, while homes took four additional days to sell.
• The report showed that inventory recovery was concentrated in the South and West, while the Northeast and Midwest remained well below pre-pandemic supply levels, so buyer leverage varied substantially by market.
• Price reductions affected 12.89% of listings, but the report’s regional analysis indicates that negotiating conditions were far from uniform.

Deeper Market Data

The broader CSV shows 344,912 pending listings, down 0.34% year over year, while total listings rose 8.58% to 1,318,754. That combination pushed the pending ratio down 4.4 percentage points, indicating that the available listing pool expanded faster than contract activity. Median listed square footage was unchanged at 1,800 square feet, and only 0.94% of listings carried a price increase. The article’s year-end analysis introduced the idea of regional and national “benchmarkets”—metros that closely reflect broader trends—and contrasted them with outlier markets where local conditions dominate. Its larger point was that national averages provided useful direction but could be misleading without local market context.