• Real estate transaction activity is increasing as mortgage rates are down from their peak.
• However, some homeowners and homebuyers still seem to be in a bind.
• Here are seven real estate markets where housing is affordable and available.

Home sales have accelerated this fall, but many buyers are still refusing to bite until prices drop.

The American real estate market is recovering After mortgage rates plunged from their mid-summer peak until mid-September, although they have seen a remarkable resurgence since then.

Pending home sales increased 7.4% in Septemberwhich represents the largest increase since the spring, according to a late October report from the National Association of Realtors. This corresponds to October data from Realtor.comwhich indicates that real estate sales increased slightly last month.

“Contract signings increased in all regions of the country as buyers took advantage of the combination of lower mortgage rates in late summer and greater inventory selection,” the chief said. of NAR Economics, Lawrence Yun, in a statement for this report. “Additional gains are expected if the economy continues to create jobs, inventory levels increase and mortgage rates remain stable.”

A stock of houses is being built up

But despite what these substantial increases in home sales might show, there are signals that suggest properties aren’t selling like hot cakes.

Landlords have had influence over buyers for most of the last two decades, due to the long-standing housing shortage in the United States it seemed push prices perpetually higher.

This might start to changeas Realtor.com found that there are more homes on the market now than at any time since the pandemic, after new listings increased 4.9% year over year.

Active home listings increased 29.2% for the 12th consecutive month, according to Realtor.com. This created the largest stock since December 2019. Along the same lines, the number of unsold homes in the United States increased by 22.5% compared to last October.

The typical house has been on the market for almost two months – or 58 days, to be precise – Realtor.com noted economist Ralph McLaughlin in the report. This is the quietest October in five years, he noted. As a reminder, this figure is one week higher than last October and three days more than in September.

Even though sellers aren’t having much success, they don’t seem willing to do much about it.

Realtor.com found that 18.6% of U.S. properties received price drops last month, the same rate as last year. This explains why house prices have not moved, with the median sales price in October changing little from 2023, at just under $425,000.

7 Affordable Cities with Home Inventory

Even though landlords are reluctant to give buyers a discount, there are still places where aspiring landlords can find fair deals.

Among the 50 largest US real estate markets included in Realtor.comAccording to ‘s monthly study, only seven are both at least 10% cheaper than the national median of $424,950 and have seen their active listings increase by 20% or more over the past year.

Below are these seven metro areas listed alphabetically, along with their median listing price, year-over-year price growth, growth in active and new listings, and median number of days homes have been on the market, this year and in October. 2023.