Homes for sale sat a median 63 days in October, two days longer than in September, and about one in five listings carried a price cut, Realtor.com said in its October housing report. The price-cut share was 20.5%, only 0.2 percentage points above a year ago, and the share of owners who pulled their homes off the market slipped to 4.4% from 4.6%.
Realtor.com’s economists describe sellers who are waiting, not folding. “On the seller side, we see more of a pause than an exodus,” said Jake Krimmel, the company’s senior economist. Fewer new homes came up for sale in October, he said, but owners who had already listed mostly stayed listed and mostly held their price.
How long is 63 days compared with other Octobers?
The 63-day median is one day longer than in October 2025, according to Realtor.com’s data, and two days longer than the 61 days in its September report. Against October 2019, the last fall before the pandemic, it is one day shorter. Against October 2022, it is 13 days longer.
Some metros moved much more than the national number. Days on market in Birmingham and Charlotte rose 7 days each from a year earlier, the largest increases among the 50 big metros in Realtor.com’s data, while Jacksonville’s shortened by 10 days, the largest drop.
For a household thinking about selling this winter, the number that matters is how long a listing is likely to sit before an offer and whether the first asking price will hold. Two months is now the national middle, and about one listing in five is changing its price while it waits. Anyone preparing to list has to decide in advance how long to wait before cutting.
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Why are sellers holding while buyers back away?
Buyers are the ones who stepped back. Homes under contract fell 10.5% from a year earlier, the steepest drop in nearly three years, Realtor.com says, and the average 30-year mortgage rate in October was 7.33%, which is 110 basis points above a year earlier. New listings fell 7.5% to 357,000, so the market lost buyers and fresh sellers at once.
Danielle Hale, Realtor.com’s chief economist, said owners who already have homes on the market “appear to be largely unphased.” Timing explains some of it. Krimmel noted that a seller who pulls a listing around Halloween or Thanksgiving is not necessarily showing the same distress as one who withdraws in midsummer, so the holiday weeks can thin the market without meaning sellers are giving up.
Where are sellers pulling back the most?
The drop in new listings was uneven. In the West they fell 10.8% from a year earlier, in the South 6.5% and in the Midwest 4.8%, while the Northeast was up 0.6%, Realtor.com says. Boston stood out among large metros: new listings there rose 4.6%.
That split matters for how long a listing sits. A seller in the West faces fewer fresh competitors than a year ago, and a seller in the Northeast faces about the same number as last fall. Both are listing into a market where buyers have pulled back, so the wait is the same even when the supply is not.
Is a price cut on one listing in five unusual?
The 20.5% share was the highest October reading since 2022 and the second-highest of any month in 2026, Realtor.com says. September’s share was 20.8%, which the company’s September report called the highest for that month since 2018. Cuts are common by recent standards but flat against last year.
The national figure hides a wide spread. In September, Realtor.com’s report put Salt Lake City’s price-cut share at 33.6% and New York’s at 10.3%, so a seller’s odds of cutting depend heavily on the city. Realtor.com counts the listings that cut, not the size of the cuts, so the data do not show how far asking prices came down.
What does a longer wait cost a seller?
Every extra week on the market carries bills that do not stop: property taxes, homeowners insurance, utilities and, for anyone who has already bought another place, a second set of payments. At a median of 63 days on the market, those costs keep running for two months or more, whatever the final price turns out to be.
Realtor.com’s numbers cut both ways for anyone deciding whether to lower the price now or wait. Four in five listings had not cut, and only 4.4% were withdrawn, so most owners are holding firm. But with contracts down 10.5%, fewer buyers are around to meet that asking price, and the longer wait is the cost of holding firm.
The tax on the profit is one cost a seller can plan around. The IRS says a seller may exclude up to $250,000 of capital gain from the sale of a main home, or $500,000 on a joint return, if the owner and spouse each owned and lived in the home for at least 24 months of the five years before the sale. The IRS adds that a seller generally cannot claim it again if gain on another home sale was excluded within the previous two years.
Listing a house into a 63-day market?
A home that sits for two months keeps costing its owner while the offers stay away, and a sale that closes after a price cut can still leave a tax bill if the profit is larger than the exclusion allows. Realtor.com’s numbers show the wait is real and the cuts are common.
The Cut Your House Costs guide includes selling without the tax: up to $250,000 of profit, or $500,000 for a couple. It also lays out home equity options side by side and a home-cost audit worksheet for the bills that run while a house is listed.
Get the guide to selling a home without the tax on up to $250,000 of profit →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
