WASHINGTON, DC — Home sellers across the United States cut asking prices at a historic pace in September as mortgage rates above 7% kept many buyers from moving forward. Realtor.com said 20.8% of active listings carried price reductions, the highest September share since 2018 and the strongest reading for any month since October 2022.
The national figure was up 0.9 percentage points from a year earlier and, for the first time in 2026, ran above the comparable 2025 level. Realtors and brokers said the shift reflects a market where more homes are sitting longer, buyers have fewer reasons to rush, and sellers increasingly need to meet the market where it is rather than where it was last year.
Inventory gains and weaker pending sales are reshaping the market
The rise in price cuts lines up with two other signals: inventory is growing faster, and pending sales are falling. Realtor.com said those trends have helped turn what is usually a slower fall stretch into an even weaker one than expected.
Jake Krimmel, senior economist at Realtor.com, said demand typically softens this time of year anyway, but higher borrowing costs and broader geopolitical uncertainty helped bring on the seasonal slowdown early. In practical terms, more homes are competing for fewer active buyers, which puts sellers under pressure to trim asking prices, offer concessions, or both.
Russell Faucette, principal broker and co-founder of Omada Real Estate in Salt Lake City, said many current sellers are not optional sellers. He pointed to job moves, divorce, debt and other life events as reasons some homeowners need to close a deal rather than wait for a better market.
The West posted the sharpest year over year increase in cuts
Regionally, the West was the weakest part of the country in September. Realtor.com said the share of listings with price cuts in the West climbed 1.8 percentage points from a year earlier to 22.8%, the biggest regional increase in the country.
The Northeast remained the least cut-heavy region at 15.2%, while the Midwest came in at 20.7% and the South at 21.8%. Realtor.com said all four regions and 36 of the 50 largest metro areas were above their year-ago price-cut rates, showing that the slowdown is widespread rather than limited to one pocket of the market.
That regional pattern also matched what happened in several Western metros, where elevated inventory and softer demand made discounts more common than in much of the country.
Salt Lake City, Denver and Portland led major metros in discounts
Salt Lake City had the nation’s highest share of discounted listings, with about one-third of active homes marked down in September. Denver followed at 31.5%, and Portland, Oregon, was close behind at 31.3%.
Faucette said higher interest rates have made homes less affordable in Salt Lake City, pushing buyers to the sidelines and leaving sellers to compete not only with the broader market but also with nearby listings. He said today’s sellers have to win on price, condition and terms if they want attention.
In Denver, agent Michelle Schwinghammer of West + Main Homes said sellers are increasingly facing the gap between where they hoped the market would be and where it actually stands now. She said price reductions often happen after the fact, when owners realize they are trying to catch up with the market rather than lead it.
Price cuts have not solved the affordability squeeze
Even with more reductions, brokers say lower sticker prices do not fully solve the affordability problem. Faucette said the market is more interest-rate-driven than price-driven, and that a 1 percentage point rise in mortgage rates can cut a buyer’s purchasing power by about 10%.
He gave an example: someone who could afford a $500,000 home at 6% may have similar buying power at about $450,000 at 7%. In his view, many home prices have not fallen enough to erase that loss, so lower list prices alone are not pulling enough people back into the market.
Schwinghammer said the buyers she speaks with also face pressure from insurance, gas, energy and grocery bills. In that setting, she said, even a meaningful price cut on a house may not be enough to make a large purchase feel manageable.
Delistings stayed flat nationally but varied sharply by city
Another sign of stress in a housing market is whether sellers pull homes off the market rather than reduce the price. Nationally, delistings held steady in September at 5.6%, which suggests sellers were not removing listings in large numbers across the country.
But the national average hid sharp local differences. Faucette said Salt Lake City is seeing high delisting rates as inventory keeps growing. He said two groups of sellers are now emerging: those who need to sell and adjust, and those who can wait and would rather take the home off the market than accept a lower price.
Schwinghammer said Denver has also seen elevated delistings all year, and the pace is rising as the market moves into the slower fall and winter seasons. She said some sellers are likely planning to try again in the spring, though that may be a gamble if inventory and rates remain elevated.
Economists are watching whether lower prices can revive signed contracts
Looking ahead, Krimmel said the key question is how sellers respond if conditions stay weak. He noted that this is usually the part of the year when buyers gain leverage, but unexpectedly high mortgage rates mean even fewer shoppers are appearing than normal this fall.
He said October will be worth watching for the size of price cuts, whether some homes get marked down more than once, and whether those changes actually lead to more signed contracts. Pending sales and inventory growth have already been moving in opposite directions for several months, a sign of stagnation that could continue if rates stay elevated.
For now, brokers say price cuts are likely to remain a feature of the market. Faucette expects sellers to lean more heavily on concessions, especially offers that help buyers buy down their interest rate and lower the monthly payment.
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