Seattle added more homes for sale than any other big metro in the past year, and Miami lost more than any other. Zillow’s September market report puts the Seattle increase at 20.3 percent and the Miami decrease at 13.9 percent, measured against September 2025, with 1.39 million homes listed across the country.
The national total was up only 2.5 percent from a year earlier, according to Zillow’s release dated October 6. That small national change hides a wide split between cities. Of the 50 metros Zillow tracks, 39 had more homes for sale than a year ago and 11 had fewer.
Where listings piled up and where they thinned out
After Seattle, the biggest increases were in Minneapolis at 16.8 percent, Cleveland at 16.6 percent, Louisville at 16.0 percent and Buffalo at 15.2 percent. Boston, Washington, Pittsburgh, Raleigh and Indianapolis each gained 10 percent or more. In the other direction, Jacksonville fell 12.4 percent, San Francisco 12.3 percent, Tampa 6.2 percent and San Diego 4.9 percent.
The pattern is regional. Florida and California metros make up most of the list of places losing listings, while Seattle and many Midwestern and Northeastern metros are gaining them. Sellers in Miami, Jacksonville and Tampa are working with a thinner field of competing homes than sellers in Seattle, where buyers have more to look at and more room to negotiate.
For homeowners thinking about downsizing and for retirees weighing a move closer to family, the question is which side of the split their own metro sits on. That position decides how aggressive a listing price can be and how much room a buyer has to bargain. Zillow’s data shows buyers with the upper hand in the metros where inventory is climbing, while sellers hold more leverage where it is falling.
Zillow’s chief economist expects sales to trail last year through the fourth quarter, which ends December 31, so each new month of inventory figures will show which metros are tipping toward buyers.
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For Seattle, a separate count points the same way. Realtor.com’s active listings for the metro, tracked by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, stood at 13,078 in September 2026.
Why a bigger pile of listings matters less when buyers are scarce
More inventory is usually good news for buyers, but the demand side is weakening too. Zillow reports that newly pending sales, the contracts signed in a month, fell 8.5 percent from a year earlier and 11.2 percent from August. Mortgage rates ended September at 7.28 percent, the highest since November 2023, and the typical monthly mortgage payment reached $1,922, up 6.7 percent from a year ago.
The result is homes that sit longer. The typical listing took 29 days to go pending, two days longer than a year earlier, and 27.4 percent of listings carried a price cut, up from 26.2 percent. Anyone deciding between selling now and waiting for spring is looking at those local numbers, since the national figure moved just 2.5 percent.
A homeowner in Seattle and a homeowner in Miami can read the same national headline and face opposite markets.
Prices, rents and the sales forecast
Prices have barely moved. The typical U.S. home value is $366,913, up 1 percent from a year ago and down 0.5 percent from August. New listings totaled 343,311 in September, up 0.4 percent from a year earlier and down 3.9 percent from August, according to Zillow’s research team.
Rents rose faster than home values. The typical U.S. rent was $1,932, up 2.7 percent, and 39.6 percent of rental listings offered a concession such as a free month. A median-income household would spend 34.3 percent of its income on a mortgage payment, against 26.3 percent on rent.
Zillow chief economist Mischa Fisher said the company expects sales to remain lower than last year through the fourth quarter. A closed-sales estimate of 319,346 for September, down 2.5 percent from a year earlier, supports that view.
Reading a metro’s inventory before listing or buying
The Zillow report lists all 50 metros, and the first step for anyone with a move in mind is to find the local line rather than the national one. A metro with inventory up double digits, such as Seattle, Minneapolis or Cleveland, tends to favor buyers; a metro with inventory down, such as Miami or Jacksonville, tends to favor sellers. The full table sits in the metro-by-metro release.
Next, compare the share of listings with price cuts and the days to pending in the same market. A seller whose neighbors are cutting prices needs a sharper first price than the national 27.4 percent price-cut share suggests, and a buyer facing a 29-day median wait has time to compare several homes. Monthly mortgage cost at a 7.28 percent rate is worth running on a specific price, since $1,922 is only the national typical payment.
Zillow’s September figures come from its own listing data, and the next monthly report will show whether the early winter in housing, as Zillow calls it, deepens or fades.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by The Financial Wire’s editorial team.
David M. Keller is a finance writer based in Columbus, Ohio, covering personal finance and consumer-focused economic topics. He earned his degree in journalism from Ohio University and began his career reporting on local business and economic trends for a regional media outlet. Since then, he has contributed to a variety of online publications, focusing on clear, practical coverage of topics such as cost of living, debt, and everyday financial decision-making.
