Facing high mortgage rates, high prices and economic uncertainty, American homebuyers have become increasingly wary, making homebuying demand slow.
Home sales fell 3.1% year over year in February as homes stayed on the market for a record number of days, according to an analysis by Redfin released on Monday, March 30.
Jason Gale, a Redfin Premier agent in New Orleans, noted that, “Sellers know it’s a buyer’s market, but they still want to get as much money as they can for their home.”
“So they list on the high end, expecting buyers to negotiate down, and that’s leading to listings staying on the market for a long time,” Gale said in a news release.
Redfin found that more than half of February’s home listings were on the market for at least 60 days without going under contract, meaning they were “stale.” This is up from 50.1% the prior year and is the highest share since 2019.
Additionally, the analysis found that, “The typical home that went under contract in February spent 66 days on the market–the slowest pace in a decade for this time of year.”
Here’s Redfin’s methodology, along with what the report found for California and other US metros.
Redfin’s methodology
Redfin’s report is based on an analysis of listings on Redfin.com dating back to 2012.
To determine the total value of all inventory on the market, Redfin took the sum of the list price of all active listings in the country as of the last day of each month. Listings were included if they were added on or before the last of the month and are still active as of the last day of the month. If the listing price exceeded $300 million, they were excluded from Redfin’s sum.
In Redfin’s report, the “total home value” is the sum of all the list prices.
A listing is considered “stale” if it has been on the market for at least 60 days and is still actively listed for sale on the final day of the month. Those listings that have been on the market for more than a year were excluded from Redfin’s analysis.
Here’s what Redfin found for California metros
Across metros in the country, “stale” listings are the least common in the Bay Area, according to Redfin.
“In San Jose, 19.8% of listings are stale, the smallest share among the major metros, followed by San Francisco (24%) and Oakland (31.1%),” Redfin said, adding that Anaheim followed with 34%.
Redfin noted that most of those areas are buyer’s markets, but to a lesser degree than other metros.
“For instance, in San Jose, there are just 10% more sellers than buyers,” Redfin said. “San Francisco is a balanced market, with a roughly equal number of sellers and buyers.”
Per Redfin’s analysis, Riverside (48.8%), Los Angeles (44.1%), and Sacramento (41.8%) have the highest share of “stale” home listings for metro areas in California.
Here’s Redfin’s breakdown of eight California metros and the percentage of “stale” listings, along with the total value of homes on the market in those areas:
What else did Redfin’s analysis find?
Miami, Florida, had the largest share of “stale” home listings (62.6%), followed by San Antonio, Texas (58.3%), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (58.1%), and West Palm Beach, Florida (55.9%), according to Redfin.
Redfin credits the high percentage of “stale” listings in those areas because they are major buyer’s markets.
“In Miami, San Antonio, and West Palm Beach, there are more than twice as many home sellers as buyers,” Redfin said.
Here are the 10 US metros with the highest share of “stale” listings for February 2026, according to Redfin:
Home sellers sitting on $347 billion ‘stale’ listings, a record high for this time of year
As of February 2026, there is a total of $347 billion worth of “stale” inventory on the market nationwide.
“That’s up 4.3% annually and the highest dollar amount on record for this time of year,” according to Redfin.
By looking at all inventory — a total of $636 billion worth of homes for sale — Redfin found the amount is mostly unchanged from a year prior, making it “the highest dollar amount on record for this time of year (except 2025, when it was 0.01% higher),” Redfin said.
“The total value of stale inventory–and all inventory–is higher than ever for this time of year because there are a record 630,000 more home sellers than buyers in the market, lengthening the amount of time it takes to sell a home,” Redfin said.
Even still, “home selling is chugging along,” Redfin said, noting that homes for sale is up 1.5% year over year.
Home prices continue to rise, with the median home-sale price being up roughly 1% year over year.
“When home prices increase, so does the total dollar value of homes for sale, and the total dollar value of stale inventory,” Redfin said.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: US housing market has record ‘stale’ listings. How California compares
Reporting by Daniella Segura, Palm Springs Desert Sun / Palm Springs Desert Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
