Real estate list prices are gradually falling around the country, but cities aren’t experiencing the shift evenly as we slide into fall.
In a new report, Realtor.com found that price trends across the country’s major cities vary, dictated by a mix of local factors, stubbornly high mortgage rates, and the ever-changing dance between supply and demand. Cities that saw home prices soar sky-high during the pandemic homebuying blitz are seeing pricing return to earth – a boon for weary buyers but a less welcome sign for sellers expecting to call the shots.
August saw the 10th straight monthly year-over-year decrease in price per square foot, with the measure falling 1.8% nationally compared to last year. During the same time period, median list prices fell year-over-year in three out of four U.S. regions, with prices dropping in the Northeast, the South, and the West. In the Midwest, the median list price stayed stable during the same time period.
Out of the top 50 metro areas in the country, the median list price per square foot dipped in 36 markets, a shift that Realtor described as a “sign that it’s ‘game over’ for unrealistic seller demands.” Austin, Tampa, and Memphis experienced the most marked declines in pricing per square foot, sliding 8.1%, 5.6%, and 4.1% respectively. Meanwhile, Providence, Indianapolis, and Chicago all saw gains in the same measure, perking up by 9.3%, 4.4%, and 3.6%.
“One common thread for most markets—including Austin, Tampa, San Antonio, Denver—is 2020–22 boomtowns continuing to give back some of their pandemic-era gains,” Realtor.com Senior Economist Jake Krimmel said in the report. “These are also, by and large, places with much more inventory now than pre-pandemic norms.”
A slowly shifting market
In ultra-expensive San Francisco, which experienced a pandemic-era exodus of tech workers, the list price per square foot cost fell by 3.9% in August. Among the top 50 metro areas with the biggest drops in that measure last month, San Francisco’s median list price still sits at a daunting $908,700. “It’s not about San Francisco homes losing value, but rather how expensive the available inventory is this year relative to last,” Krimmel explained in the report. Small, central, expensive homes are scarcer now, with more affordable inventory in outer suburbs opening up.
San Francisco’s median list price is still twice the price of a median home in many major U.S. markets, but is down by 5.2% from the same time last year. In San Diego, which experienced its own 2.7% drop in August, the median list price still hovered around $899,000. Out of the ten metro areas experiencing the biggest price drops per square foot last month, Portland is the next most expensive, with a median list price of $595,000 in August. Portland’s pricing per square foot slipped by 2.4% last month.
In 2026’s evolving real estate market, the stock of homes for sale is growing. As home supply nears pre-pandemic levels, Realtor.com advises sellers in cooling markets to be strategic—not unrealistic—when pricing a home for sale.