More home sellers are giving up instead of cutting prices

October saw delistings rise 38% compared with the same month last year, said Realtor.com, while the year-to-date figure was up 46% compared with 2024. The research group said 2025 is the highest delisting year since it began tracking in 2022.

Late fall usually sees houses taken off the market as would-be sellers opt out of trying to sell during the slowest winter period, with many deciding instead to try again in the spring. But October’s figure is “well above seasonal norms,” the report said. Active listings have also dropped about 6% every month since June, it added, in a trend usually reserved for the winter months.

“The delisting trend is a perfect personification of the stagnant and frustration-filled housing market,” said Realtor.com senior economist Jake Krimmel. “With buyers and sellers far apart, the sellers’ solution is to pull that trump card and delist, rather than cut prices.”

Delistings have risen as more homeowners fail to get the prices they want, which Realtor.com said showed how “affordability pressures are weighing on seller confidence.” Meanwhile buyer demand remains soft, it added, leaving homes sitting on the market for longer and giving sellers fewer offers and less leverage. 

Krimmel said delisting season arrived well ahead of schedule, with a 48% year-on-year rise in June, when buying generally increases. In July, delistings were 57% higher than the same month last year.

“Sellers came to market and inventory in many metros boomed, but the buyers never really showed up this summer,” he said. “Between higher than expected interest rates and home prices, low consumer sentiment, and broader economic uncertainty, demand was extremely low.”

Researchers found that nationwide in October, about 27 homes were delisted for every 100 that were put on the market. Miami had the highest ratio of delistings to new listings, at 45 per 100, while Denver had 39, Houston had 37, and Los Angeles had 33.