After growing by 22 percent last year, inventory is “a bright spot for a market that’s been dealing with deep deficits in recent years,” according to ICE Mortgage Monitor report for February.
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For-sale inventory bounced back in 2024 to the strongest level in nearly five years, with 25 percent of markets back at pre-pandemic levels and another 15 percent on track to normalize this year, according to an analysis by technology and data provider Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).
“Overall, for-sale inventory enters the year as a bright spot for a market that’s been dealing with deep deficits in recent years,” ICE said in releasing the company’s Mortgage Monitor report for February. “Inventory levels grew by 22 percent in 2024, with a quarter of markets, largely in the southern U.S. now back to or above pre-pandemic levels.”
At the current rate of growth, the nation as a whole market is on track to return to pre-pandemic for-sale inventory levels by mid-2026, “although a number of macro and micro economic factors could change that trajectory,” the report warned.
Pace of inventory normalization, by market
Source: ICE Mortgage Monitor report, February 2025.
The Midwest and Northeast “are noticeable outliers, with much deeper deficits remaining and slower rates of improvement, as most markets in those regions are not on pace to ‘normalize’ until 2027 or beyond,” the report said.
Home price appreciation also slowed to 3.4 percent last year — the slowest annual growth since 2011, when housing markets were still reeling from the 2007-2009 Great Recession.
Andy Walden
“Given the disparity of inventories across the country it is no surprise to see 18 of the 20 strongest housing markets from a price growth perspective located in inventory-starved portions of the Midwest and Northeast,” ICE’s Andy Walden said in a statement.
Prices are even falling in some Southeastern markets, where homebuilders have helped boost supply.
Annual home price appreciation, by market
Source: ICE Mortgage Monitor report, February 2025.
Markets posting annual home price declines included Austin, Texas (-2.9 percent); Tampa, Florida (-2 percent); San Antonio, Texas (-1.5 percent) and Jacksonville, Florida (-1.1 percent).
Eight of Florida’s nine largest markets saw price declines last year, with Miami the lone exception.
“Given slower migration into the state, rising insurance costs, and growing for-sale inventories, home prices in the Sunshine State will be worth watching closely as we make our way through 2025,” the report said.
Among the 50 largest U.S. housing markets, Buffalo, New York, saw the greatest annual price appreciation (9.3 percent), followed by Hartford, Connecticut (8.5 percent); Cleveland, Ohio (7.9 percent); Detroit (7.9 percent); Chicago (6.7 percent); New York-Newark (6.6 percent); and Philadelphia (6.5 percent).
In their latest forecast, Fannie Mae economists estimated that national home prices rose 5.8 percent in 2024 and will rise another 3.5 percent in 2025 before decelerating to 1.7 percent by the end of next year.
Last year saw sales of existing homes shrink to levels not seen since 1995, and Fannie Mae forecasters project elevated rates dim the prospects of a strong 2025 sales rebound.
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