Why renters — and listings — aren’t budging 

In 2023, the real estate market saw the lowest number of home sales in nearly three decades. Economists had high hopes for a rebound in 2024 — but while a November rally offered a late-season boost, current projections suggest that sales will just barely top last year's numbers. 

So, will things finally turn around in 2025? Sales are expected to improve, but for now, new data on inventory and rental trends suggests the market is still feeling rather stuck. 

More inventory, but buyers aren't biting: A recent Redfin report on inventory found that supply reached a four-year high in November — good news in a market where inventory has been painfully tight. 

But the bad news? More than half (54.5%) of those listings were on the market longer than 60 days, the highest share for any November since 2019. Homes that did go under contract sat on the market for 43 days, also the slowest pace since 2019. 

"A lot of listings on the market are either stale or uninhabitable," said Meme Loggins, a Redfin Premier agent in Portland, Oregon. 

The main culprit is price. "Homes that are priced well and in good condition are flying off the market in three to five days, but homes that are overpriced can sit for over three months," Loggins said.

Areas with the highest inventory — led by metros in Texas and Florida — are seeing the highest share of stale listings, according to the report. Among the 50 largest metros, Miami had the highest share of listings still on the market after 60 days, at 63.8%. That was followed by Austin (62.4%), Fort Lauderdale (62.3%), San Antonio (60.3%) and Orlando (59.9%).

Renters are staying put: High home prices are also a key factor in shifting rental habits. A separate Redfin report looking at 2023 census data found that more than a third of renters had stayed in the same home for more than five years, up from 28.4% a decade ago.

During that time, monthly mortgage payments have nearly tripled, said Redfin Senior Economist Sheharyar Bokhari — and while rents spiked during the pandemic, a recent apartment construction boom has kept rents "relatively flat over the past two years as home prices and mortgage rates continued to climb," Bokhari noted.

"That has encouraged renters to stay in the same home, where they are less likely to face major rent increases."

Perhaps not surprisingly, younger renters tend to move more often. More than half (52.4%) of Gen Z renters moved within a year, while only 13.1% of baby boomers did so, the study found.

Most boomers (56%), in fact, lived in their rental home for at least five years — versus 23% of millennials and 45% of Gen X —  and more than a third stayed in their home for 10+ years. 

Renters in high-cost metros were the most likely to stay put. New York City had the lowest rate of renters moving within a year, at 14.9%, followed by Los Angeles (16.7%) and Riverside, California (18.9%).