Home price growth paused and inventory swelled during what is typically one of the most competitive home shopping months of the year. That’s despite mortgage rates reaching a 2025 low in March. 

Sellers made a strong showing in March, putting more than 375,000 homes on the market — an increase of nearly 9% compared to the same time last year. While new listing activity is still about 19% below a typical March before the pandemic, it’s steadily rising month over month and tracking closely with normal seasonal trends. 

While sellers leaned on the gas, buyers didn’t keep up. Newly pending sales were essentially flat compared to last year, even though average mortgage rates were lower this year — 6.65% on average in March, compared to 6.82% a year before. About 265,000 listings went into a pending sale in March — 110,000 fewer than came on the market.  

This mismatch pushed inventory up to 1.15 million homes — 19% over last year — the most inventory buyers have seen in March since 2020. Inventory now stands 24% below 2018-2019 averages for this time of year. That’s a noticeable improvement from March 2023 and March 2024, when inventory was down 43% and 36%, respectively, compared to pre-pandemic levels.

With more options available, competition cooled, and home price growth slowed significantly. The typical home value rose 0.2% month over month in March, unadjusted for seasonality. That’s by far the slowest growth for this time of year since at least 2018; the second-slowest was 0.7%. Still, home values fell monthly in just five major metros: the four major Florida markets and San Antonio. Appreciation of home values nationwide is fairly slow but positive over last year at 1.2%. 

Affordability is still challenging buyers. A mortgage payment on a typical home in March required about 35.3% of median household income nationwide when using a 20% down payment. That’s a slight improvement over last year, but is still unaffordable. Spending more than 30% of income on housing is considered a financial burden, and a 20% down payment is a steep entry fee, coming out to about $72,000 on the typical U.S. home. 

Sellers cut prices at record rates to help bridge the gap to buyers. Approximately 23% of the listings on Zillow received a price cut in March, the highest share for any March since at least 2018. 

March 2025 Market Report

Home values

• The typical U.S. home value is $359,741.
• The typical monthly mortgage payment, assuming 20% down, is $1,855.
• Home values climbed month over month in 41 of the 50 largest metro areas in March. Gains were biggest in San Jose (1.3%), Milwaukee (0.9%), San Francisco (0.9%), Pittsburgh (0.8%), and Hartford (0.7%).
• Home values fell, on a monthly basis, in five major metro areas. The largest monthly drops were in Miami (-0.4%), Tampa (-0.3%), Orlando (-0.2%), Jacksonville (-0.1%), and San Antonio (-0.1%).
• Home values are up from year-ago levels in 34 of the 50 largest metro areas. Annual price gains are highest in San Jose (5.5%), Cleveland (5.3%), Providence (5.2%), New York (4.8%), and Hartford (4.7%).
• Home values are down from year-ago levels in 16 major metro areas. The largest drops were in Austin (-4.6%), Tampa (-4.5%), San Antonio (-2.7%), Phoenix (-2.5%), and Dallas (-2.4%).
• The typical mortgage payment is up 0.3% from last year and has increased by 108.8% since pre-pandemic.

Inventory and new listings

• New listings increased by 31.5% month over month in March.
• New listings increased by 8.5% this month compared to last year.
• New listings are -19% lower than pre-pandemic levels.
• Total inventory (the number of listings active at any time during the month) in March increased by 10.5% from last month.
• The median age of inventory — the typical time since the initial list date for active for-sale listings — was 51 days.
• There were 19.3% more listings active in March compared to last year.
• Inventory levels are -24% lower than pre-pandemic levels for the month.

Price cuts and share sold above list

• 23.5% of listings in March had a price cut. That’s compared to 21.6% in February and 20.6% a year ago. 
• 24.6% of homes sold above their list price last month, up from 22.3% in January. 
• 30.3% of homes sold above their list price last year. 

Newly pending sales

• Newly pending listings increased by 28.3% in March from the prior month.
• Newly pending listings increased by 0.3% from last year.
• Median days to pending, the typical time since initial list date for homes that went under contract in a month, is at 17 days in March, down six days since last month.
• Median days to pending increased by four days from last year.

Market heat index

• Zillow’s market heat index shows the nation is currently a seller’s market, breaking out of neutral territory for the first time this year.
• The strongest sellers markets in the country are Buffalo, Hartford, San Francisco, Boston, and San Jose.
• The strongest buyers markets in the country are Miami, New Orleans, Jacksonville, and Tampa.

Rents

• Asking rents increased by 0.6% month over month in March. The pre-pandemic average for this time of year is 0.5%.
• Rents are now up 3.5% from last year.
• Rents fell, on a monthly basis, in one major metro area: Buffalo (-0.2%).  Louisville held steady (0%) while Philadelphia (0.1%), Miami (0.2%), and Milwaukee (0.2%) saw the smallest gains.
• Rents are up from year-ago levels in 47 of the 50 largest metro areas. Annual rent increases are highest in Hartford (6.8%), Cleveland (6.7%), Providence (5.9%), Chicago (5.8%), and Columbus (5.8%).