HOUSTON — (By Dale King, Realty News Report) – Real estate professionals – economists in particular – complained at length last year about the residential sales market in 2024 and 2023, citing its dismal performance and hoping the New Year would reverse the downward trend.
But now, as 2025 draws to a close, this year’s sales figures for single family dwellings, condominiums and townhouses show an even steeper decline, says a new report from Seattle-based real estate brokerage Redfin.
In fact, the recently released analysis concluded that only about 28 of every 1,000 U.S. homes (or 2.77%) have changed hands since January – the lowest turnover rate for any year since the early to mid-1990s.
This year’s sales figures were down just a tad from the 2.78% list of deals tallied last year when existing home sales dropped to their lowest level since 1995.
A total of 37.7% fewer homes sold this year than during the middle of the pandemic buying frenzy in 2021 (44 of every 1,000) and 31.2% fewer homes were scooped up this year than during the last pre-pandemic year, 2019 (40 of every 1,000).
Caution defines market
“America’s housing market is defined right now by caution,” said Chen Zhao, Redfin’s head of economics research. “Buyers are walking away from deals more often, sometimes due to affordability issues and sometimes because they’re re-evaluating whether now is the right moment to commit.”
“Others aren’t even shopping, waiting instead for prices or mortgage rates to come down. Also, many sellers are staying put—either because they’re locked into low rates or unwilling to accept offers below expectations. When both sides hesitate, sales fall to historic lows.”
The report says residences aren’t moving because:
- Home prices are near record highs, causing the number of sellers to far outnumber buyers.
- More than 70% of mortgaged homeowners have a rate below 5%, well below the current rate (6.24% for 30-year mortgage as of Nov. 13). Many homeowners are still rate-locked and unwilling to sell.
- Concerns about job security, inflation and broader instability caused many would-be movers to delay major purchases.
More homes being listed
The number of homes listed for sale during the first nine months of this year rose to 3.9% — meaning 39 out of every 1,000 homes were on the block. It was the third-slowest rate of homes being listed in records going back to 2012 – a fraction higher than last year’s 3.7% and 2023’s record low of 3.5%.
This year’s rate of sales is down 25.2% from before the pandemic in 2019 (52 listings per 1,000 homes) and 24.3% down from 2021 (51 listings per 1,000 homes).
Texas Turnover
San Antonio’s turnover rate fell to 24 sales per 1,000 homes, down 26.9% from a year ago and the biggest decline among the top 50 U.S. metros.
Dallas: The turnover rate fell to 23 sales per 1,000 homes, down 12.6% from a year ago when 26.3 homes per 1,000 listings sold.
Fort Worth: The turnover rate dropped to 23.3 per 1,000 homes, down 10.2% from a year earlier when 25.9 homes sold out of each 1,000 listed.
Houston: The number of homes sold per 1,000 dropped to 23.3 from 26.7 in 2024, a decrease of 13.0%.
Austin’s turnover rate dropped to 21.7 from 25.9 per 1,000 homes on the market in 2024, a drop of 15.9%.
Highest home turnover Jan.-Sept. 2025
Virginia Beach, Va. led the 50 most populous U.S. metros with the highest turnover rate — about 35 out of every 1,000 homes sold in the first nine months of the year.
The next metros with the highest turnover rates this year were West Palm Beach (32.6 sales per 1,000 homes), Tampa (31.2 sales), Indianapolis (30.3 sales) and Atlanta (30.1 sales).
Demand in the Sun Belt softened significantly since the peak of the pandemic and the sales rate continues to drop in many of the region’s metro areas.
Charlotte, N.C. registered -19.9% followed by Jacksonville (-17.3%), Miami (-16.7%) and Orlando (-16.1%).
The only major metros to post a faster turnover rate from a year ago were Virginia Beach, Va. (+5.3%), San Francisco (+2.6%) and Indianapolis (+1.4%).
Least turnover (Jan.-Aug. 2025) in NY, Calif. metros
New York recorded the smallest number of homes to change hands among the top 50 metros, with only 10 of every 1,000 homes selling in the first nine months of the year.
Next came six California metros, led by Los Angeles (11.5 sales per 1,000 homes), San Francisco (13.2 sales per 1,000 homes), San Jose (14.8 sales per 1,000 homes), Anaheim (15.5 sales per $1,000 homes), Oakland (15.9 homes per $1,000 homes) and San Diego, 16.3 sales per 1,000 homes.
California’s low housing turnover stems in part from Proposition 13, a state law that restricts property-tax growth and creates a strong financial incentive for homeowners to remain in their homes.
Condo sales down 3.3% year over year.
Even fewer folks turned out to purchase condominiums and townhouses this year than bought homes, says the Redfin report. A mere 22.2 percent of condos and townhouses were sold – a drop of 3.3 percent from last year.
That’s in line with Redfin data showing how hard it is to sell condos this year, with an estimated 72.3% more condo sellers than buyers listed on the nationwide market in August.
Redfin says about 33 of every 1,000 condos/townhouses were on the for-sale list during the first nine months of the year while 41 of every 1,000 single family homes were listed for sale.
Nov. 30, 2025 Realty News Report Copyright 2025
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