At the same time, days on market jumped year over year, Mainstreet REALTORS® said.

Tapping into Realtor intel, Zillow analyzed its listing database for keywords that are increasing most in popularity heading into the new year.

Agent Publishing Founder and Publisher Anne Hartnett discusses Brokerage Culture with Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty’s Val Burmester, Rachel Schindler and Dean Jones.

The pace of home sales, meanwhile, remained at “multi-decade lows” even as affordability reached its most favorable level since 2022.

Staid markets in the Midwest that missed the fervid speculation of the pandemic are now enjoying healthy gains.

Searches for “fixer-upper” on Realtor.com in July 2025 have more than tripled in volume compared to four years ago.

The pace of new-home sales hit an annual rate of 800,000, its highest level since January 2022. 

Fannie Mae also reduced its forecasts for home sales in 2025 and 2026. 

The slower sales pace was accompanied by more days on market for Chicagoland homes, Mainstreet REALTORS® said. 

The decline in sales came as a 17-month run of year-over-year increases in new listings came to a close.

The move was widely anticipated and is expected to be followed by additional cuts this year. 

The jump in mortgage activity was driven in large part by refinancings, which surged 58% in the week ended Sept. 12. 

At the same time, completions of new single-family homes were on the rise last month, according to federal statistics. 

The National Association of Home Builders said its monthly builder-confidence survey indicated rising optimism that lower interest rates could spur new-home buying activity. 

The surge comes as the rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to its lowest level since October 2024. 

The rate of home-price appreciation slowed to just over half the rate of inflation in July, Cotality noted.