New Listings
How many homes were newly listed for sale in an area during the month, relative to the size of its housing stock, and how that flow has changed.
On this page
The number of homes newly added to the market for sale during the month, expressed per 1,000 homes.
realtor.com describes this as "the count of new listings added to the market in a given geography during the month" (Housing Inventory: New Listing Count in the United States). It is a flow, counted in the month it happens, and is distinct from the running stock of active listings measured by Listings for Sale: a month can add many new listings while the total count of homes on the market falls, if homes are also going pending or being withdrawn faster than they are added.
More new listings generally means more sellers are choosing to put a home on the market, which is read here the same way as the active-listing count — more supply is the buyer-favourable direction.
Metrics in this family#
New listings
The trailing 12-month average count of newly listed homes in the month, per 1,000 homes.
New listings change, 1 year
The percentage change in that flow over the past year.
New listings change, 3 year
The percentage change in that flow over the past three years.
New listings change, 5 year
The percentage change in that flow over the past five years.
New listings vs seasonal norm
How the current flow of new listings compares with the typical flow for this time of year in this same area, rather than with a fixed number of years back.
Considerations#
New listings are seasonal. Sellers list homes disproportionately in spring and early summer in most of the country, so a raw month-to-month reading swings with the calendar as much as with the market. The trailing 12-month average smooths that within a year; the seasonal-norm reading compares a place against its own typical month directly.
A flow, not a stock. New listings measures what was added during the month, not what remains on the market — that is Listings for Sale. The two can move in opposite directions in the same month.
Small ZIP codes are thin. A ZIP code with few new listings in a typical month can show large percentage swings from a small absolute change, the same limitation that applies to the active-listing count.
Not adjusted for methodology changes. realtor.com revised how it captures and reports listing activity in 2021 and 2022; history spanning those revisions carries a methodology break, described further on the source page.
References#
- 1Housing Inventory: New Listing Count in the United Stateshttps://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NEWLISCOUUS