SEATTLE, March 12 — New listings of U.S. homes for sale rose 0.5% from a year earlier during the four weeks ending March 8, the first increase since November, according to a new report from Redfin, the real estate brokerage powered by Rocket.
While it’s a modest improvement, it may be a sign that some home sellers are feeling more hopeful about this spring’s housing market now that mortgage rates have dipped down to 6%. That has pushed the median monthly housing payment down 3.2% year over year, and Redfin agents in much of the country say 6% is a psychological threshold for buyers who have been waiting to jump into the market. (The daily average mortgage rate rose as high as 6.19% this week amid turmoil in the Middle East.) The improvement in new listings is partly due to sellers relisting their homes: Homeowners who pulled their homes off the market in 2025 are relisting at a record rate, betting on a stronger market this year.
Pending home sales are down 1.3% year over year, the smallest decline in over a month, and mortgage-purchase applications are up 8% week over week. Those are also signals that the market may slowly be improving as spring approaches. Still, many would-be buyers are sitting on the sidelines, deterred by still-high costs and economic uncertainty; a small portion say they’re putting plans on hold due to the Iran war.
There are hundreds of thousands more home sellers than buyers in the market, giving buyers negotiating power. But lower housing payments and more homes to choose from could lure some buyers off the sidelines–and some power could start shifting back to sellers.
“Heading into spring and summer, the vibe is that the market will shift from the slowness we’ve seen over the last few years,” said Justin Gomez, a Redfin Premier agent in Omaha, NE. “I’ve already seen a few bidding wars on lower–priced homes, and that may become more common if mortgage rates stay closer to 6% than 7%. We also have a fairly large pool of homes for sale, with a lot of new construction homes sitting on the market. If the spring does bring more buyers off the sidelines, those will go fast and maybe for over asking price.”
