2020 was a year like no other for the residential real estate market, and the market is still feeling the effects.
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the late winter and early spring of last year set off a series of whiplashing shifts. Initially, public health concerns and stay-at-home orders brought the market to a halt as buyers and sellers alike held back on transactions. But over the course of the year, demand rebounded in dramatic fashion. Increased household savings gave many people more resources to enter the market, especially among first-time buyers in the millennial generation. Meanwhile, space and amenities in the home took on additional value because more people were working and schooling from home. All of these factors have driven up the demand for homes.
Despite strong interest from buyers, the market has not seen supply keep up. The ripple effects of the pandemic have made many would-be sellers more conservative, keeping their homes off the market. With the broader economic outlook still uncertain in many ways, these homeowners are wary of making such a major transaction, especially when it means competing with a mass of buyers for their next property.
Together, the combination of strong demand and weak supply has produced higher prices and lower inventory. In a typical year, the number of active listings and the median list price for homes stay roughly in sync, following the seasonality of the real estate market. In 2020, however, there was a divergence as prices continued to increase while active listings fell sharply over the course of the year.
Large Metros With the Most Homes for Sale
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1. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL
- Number of active listings per 10k homes: 337
- Average number of active listings per month: 42,520
- Change in number of active listings (YoY): -13.3%
- Average number of new listings added per month: 10,421
- Median home price: $406,290
Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo
2. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA
- Number of active listings per 10k homes: 219
- Average number of active listings per month: 30,072
- Change in number of active listings (YoY): -29.5%
- Average number of new listings added per month: 14,738
- Median home price: $341,267
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3. New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA
- Number of active listings per 10k homes: 190
- Average number of active listings per month: 68,144
- Change in number of active listings (YoY): -10.9%
- Average number of new listings added per month: 21,182
- Median home price: $594,540
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4. Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV
- Number of active listings per 10k homes: 190
- Average number of active listings per month: 8,140
- Change in number of active listings (YoY): -11.8%
- Average number of new listings added per month: 3,386
- Median home price: $336,525
Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo
5. Jacksonville, FL
- Number of active listings per 10k homes: 184
- Average number of active listings per month: 6,563
- Change in number of active listings (YoY): -27.3%
- Average number of new listings added per month: 2,627
- Median home price: $317,683
Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo
6. Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX
- Number of active listings per 10k homes: 164
- Average number of active listings per month: 22,882
- Change in number of active listings (YoY): -20.0%
- Average number of new listings added per month: 9,399
- Median home price: $322,238
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7. San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX
- Number of active listings per 10k homes: 161
- Average number of active listings per month: 7,813
- Change in number of active listings (YoY): -22.4%
- Average number of new listings added per month: 3,269
- Median home price: $301,436
Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo
8. Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL
- Number of active listings per 10k homes: 158
- Average number of active listings per month: 8,072
- Change in number of active listings (YoY): -17.1%
- Average number of new listings added per month: 3,336
- Median home price: $321,205
Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo
9. Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC
- Number of active listings per 10k homes: 156
- Average number of active listings per month: 6,252
- Change in number of active listings (YoY): -35.9%
- Average number of new listings added per month: 2,932
- Median home price: $320,631
Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo
10. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL
- Number of active listings per 10k homes: 137
- Average number of active listings per month: 10,069
- Change in number of active listings (YoY): -32.0%
- Average number of new listings added per month: 4,677
- Median home price: $292,308
Large Metros With the Fewest Homes for Sale
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1. Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY
- Number of active listings per 10k homes: 39
- Average number of active listings per month: 1,235
- Change in number of active listings (YoY): -32.9%
- Average number of new listings added per month: 825
- Median home price: $218,437
Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo
2. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
- Number of active listings per 10k homes: 41
- Average number of active listings per month: 1,416
- Change in number of active listings (YoY): -23.2%
- Average number of new listings added per month: 1,215
- Median home price: $1,196,303
Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo
3. Rochester, NY
- Number of active listings per 10k homes: 49
- Average number of active listings per month: 1,373
- Change in number of active listings (YoY): -33.7%
- Average number of new listings added per month: 953
- Median home price: $237,036
Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo
4. Columbus, OH
- Number of active listings per 10k homes: 51
- Average number of active listings per month: 2,487
- Change in number of active listings (YoY): -19.8%
- Average number of new listings added per month: 1,799
- Median home price: $310,359
Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo
5. Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI
- Number of active listings per 10k homes: 52
- Average number of active listings per month: 1,946
- Change in number of active listings (YoY): -31.7%
- Average number of new listings added per month: 1,201
- Median home price: $328,346
Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo
6. San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA
- Number of active listings per 10k homes: 52
- Average number of active listings per month: 4,756
- Change in number of active listings (YoY): -12.2%
- Average number of new listings added per month: 3,689
- Median home price: $999,365
Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo
7. Salt Lake City, UT
- Number of active listings per 10k homes: 54
- Average number of active listings per month: 1,458
- Change in number of active listings (YoY): -42.7%
- Average number of new listings added per month: 1,185
- Median home price: $491,641
Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo
8. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA
- Number of active listings per 10k homes: 56
- Average number of active listings per month: 4,936
- Change in number of active listings (YoY): -28.9%
- Average number of new listings added per month: 3,950
- Median home price: $617,868
Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo
9. Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN
- Number of active listings per 10k homes: 59
- Average number of active listings per month: 3,373
- Change in number of active listings (YoY): -38.1%
- Average number of new listings added per month: 1,921
- Median home price: $309,265
Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo
10. Grand Rapids-Kentwood, MI
- Number of active listings per 10k homes: 63
- Average number of active listings per month: 1,701
- Change in number of active listings (YoY): -28.5%
- Average number of new listings added per month: 1,036
- Median home price: $306,175
Detailed Findings & Methodology
The data used in this analysis is from Realtor.com’s Real Estate Data: Inventory-Monthly and the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey. To determine the locations with the most homes for sale, researchers calculated the average number of monthly active residential listings in 2020 per 10,000 owner-occupied homes. In the event of a tie, the location with the greater total number of active listings was ranked higher. To improve relevance, only metropolitan areas with at least 100,000 residents were included. Additionally, metros were grouped into cohorts based on population size: small (100,000–349,999), midsize (350,000–999,999), and large (1,000,000 or more).
