Home prices in more affordable cities are rising, while America’s most expensive metros dip

America’s housing market is a tale of two types of city right now. In a reversal of longer trends, prices are rising in cheaper cities and dropping in America’s most expensive metros, per a new report from Realtor.com, as cost-conscious buyers look for bargains and disappointed sellers pull their listings.

Cruel summer... and winter?

Indeed, Realtor.com reported an “unusually high rate” of delistings in October, up 45.5% year to date — way above seasonal norms and affirming 2025 as the highest delisting year since the company started tracking the rates three years ago. Roughly 6% of all active listings have been taken off the market each month since June, forming a trend that’s “not typically seen outside of December or January,” when the market historically slows down the most.

With housing inventory still growing, demand still slow, millions of homeowners locked in to their mortgages, and houses staying longer on the market, the report sees delisting as a way for sellers to “reassert control” rather than cutting prices or letting their properties linger.

In such a high-rate, high-price environment, many buyers aren’t feeling much better. As a result, some are shifting into what Realtor.com calls the “refuge market.” That has been a boon for the market in traditionally affordable cities, with many seeing double-digit price-per-square foot growth since 2022. Some have seen even more, with Cleveland and Milwaukee notching growth of 20% and 21%, respectively.

At the top end of the spectrum, a little bit of air is finally coming out of the market. In America’s most expensive metro area tracked by Realtor.com, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, prices are down 4% year on year — but at $1.3 million, the typical property there still isn’t exactly cheap.