Inventory Bounces Back in 78 Major Metros

During the pandemic housing boom, high homebuyer demand caused homes to sell quickly, causing the number of available homes to drop sharply. Nationally, housing inventory is still 11% below June 2019 levels, but an increasing number of markets are seeing inventory return to normal levels, according to the ResiClub blog. In January 2025, 41 of the largest 200 metro areas saw inventory return to pre-pandemic levels; in June 2025, that number grew to 78 metros, many of them in the Sun Belt and including parts of Florida, Texas, Arizona, and Colorado. 

Not all metros are seeing the same level of inventory growth, however. There are still 30 of the nation’s 200 largest metro areas where inventory is at least 50% below 2019 levels. Still, this figure is a slight improvement from the prior month when inventory in 32 housing markets was at least 50% below 2019 levels. 

When pandemic-fueled domestic migration slowed and mortgage rates spiked, markets like Cape Coral, Florida, and San Antonio, Texas, faced challenges as they had to rely on local incomes to sustain frothy home prices. The housing market softening in these areas was further accelerated by the abundance of new home supply in the pipeline across the Sun Belt. Builders in these regions are often willing to reduce net effective prices or make other affordability adjustments to maintain sales. These adjustments in the new construction market also create a cooling effect on the resale market, as some buyers who might have opted for an existing home shift their focus to new homes where deals are still available.

In contrast, many Northeast and Midwest markets were less reliant on pandemic migration and have less new home construction in progress. With lower exposure to that demand shock, active inventory in these Midwest and Northeast regions has remained relatively tight, keeping the advantage in the hands of home sellers.