More homes were on the market in the second quarter, but a greater supply didn't translate to lower prices. Generally, the second quarter of the year encompasses the traditional homebuying season, where inventory and prices rise. This year, those patterns held true. For first-time buyers, high mortgage rates and high prices continued to be the biggest obstacles despite the rise in inventory.
Note: This quarter, we’re changing the format of our quarterly affordability analysis to focus primarily on the data. If you’re a member of the media and would like to discuss these findings and what they mean for potential buyers, please reach out to [email protected] to be put in touch with the author of this report or one of our other subject matter experts.
Key Findings
Listing prices rose, and in some metros, they rose considerably.
- List prices rose 5% in the second quarter to $438,700 on average, nationwide.
- This puts the typical monthly payment for first-time home buyers at $3,400, assuming a 9% down payment (the average for this group of buyers).
- Some of the more typically affordable metros are among those where prices rose the most: Buffalo, New York (+14%); Cleveland, Ohio (+12%); Baltimore (+10%); Providence, Rhode Island (+10%); and Detroit (+10%).
Inventory, or the typical number of homes on the market during the month, hit a level not seen since before the pandemic, rising 20% nationwide.
- On average, the number of active listings rose 28% last quarter in the nation’s 50 largest metros, climbing in each one of the metros analyzed.
- The number of homes for sale increased the most in San Jose, California (+80%); Seattle (+74%); Boston (+69%); San Francisco (+63%); Denver (+63%); Sacramento (+54%); and Washington, D.C. (+50%).
Second quarter data
The number of active listings plays a big role in whether buyers will find a home that suits their needs.
How much you pay for a home depends significantly on where you buy. Pricing and competition varies across the U.S.
A home’s price is only part of the equation when determining monthly affordability — housing payments also generally include homeowners insurance, real estate taxes and private mortgage insurance if your down payment is less than 20%.
» CALCULATOR: How Much House Can I Afford?
METHODOLOGY
Monthly median list price and list count figures are from monthly inventory data from the Realtor.com residential listings database as of Aug. 12, 2025. All nominal list prices were adjusted to June 2025 dollars using the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ consumer price index. All monthly median figures were compiled into quarterly averages.
The median age of first-time home buyers is 38, according to the National Association of Realtors’ 2024 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. Estimated income for first-time home buyers was derived from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2023 American Community Survey metro-level median household income for householders ages 25-44 — the range likely to include most first-time home buyers — and adjusted to June 2025 dollars using the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employment Cost Index.
Homeowners insurance premiums were estimated using a sample policy profile across all markets through Quadrant Information Services.
Additional sources for this analysis include: population estimates and median real estate taxes from the American Community Survey, U.S. Census Bureau and the average Q2 rates on 30-year fixed mortgages, Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
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