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For the first time since the pandemic began, homes for sale in the US are spending more on the market than last year. It’s the latest evidence that the balance is returning to the housing market with a furious future.

Last week in July, the median home sat on the market one more day than the same week a year ago, weekly Realtor.com data shows. While a day may not seem meaningful, this is the first time the weekly metric has increased since June 2020.

“We’ve finally reached a tipping point,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com. (Baron and the company that operates Realtor.com are both privately held.

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Sales slowed down in some parts of the country in July. Homes in Austin, Denver and Riverside-San Bernardino, California spent more time on the market than they did a year ago. The median home in the Texas capital spent 29 days on the market in July, according to Realtor.com data.

That’s still a long way from the 50 days the median Austin home stayed in July 2019 before the outbreak hit, but more than 19 days last July. Nationwide, homes were on the market for 35 days.

“We all knew that. [the Austin housing market] At some point there was a slowdown,” said Cord Shifflett, president of the Austin Board of Realtors. BaronHomes are flying off the market at one of the fastest rates Austin has seen, citing last year’s disappointment.

At the other end of the spectrum, homes in Miami, Orlando and Tampa went off the market quickly in June a year ago.

“Florida seems very desirable,” says Realtor.com’s Hale, citing relatively low state and local taxes. Although the prices are increasing significantly, it is relatively affordable.

Combined with other metrics, a longer time on the market indicates a shift in beer’s potency, which can be welcome news to buyers.

For one, inventory is expanding, giving people more options. Realtor.com’s active listings count rose 31 percent year-over-year in July, the highest monthly level since November 2020, though still off pre-pandemic levels.

Competition signs are also down. in June,

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The measure of bidding wars fell to 49.9%, the smallest share since May 2020.

Additional coverage of the housing market

“Buyers can take their time making prudent decisions about homes without worrying too much about the battles,” Taylor Marr, deputy chief economist at Redfin, said in a release Tuesday. “It’s a different story for older sellers who have heard that their neighbors’ homes are getting multiple offers on the same day they go up for sale in the past couple of years.”

Still, there are many hurdles for those looking to buy a home. Surveyed consumers

Fannie Mae

In July, three-quarters said it was a bad time to buy a home. Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan said, “Poor mortgage rates are cited by consumers as the main reason behind the perception that it’s a bad time to buy and sell.”

The loan amount has increased significantly this year. The average rate on a fixed 30-year mortgage was 4.99% last week, according to Freddie Mac data—down from 2022’s peak of 5.81% in June, but 2 percentage points higher than the same period last year.

House prices also continue to rise. In June, the median home price rose 13.4% year over year to 416,000.

These factors have contributed to the decline of the marketable herd. The Mortgage Bankers Association said today that home loan applications were rejected last week. “It has fallen in five of the past six weeks as buyers remain on the sidelines amid still challenging capacity conditions and doubts about the strength of the economy,” said Joel Kahn, the trade group’s vice president of economics and industry. Prediction.

And for some buyers, good news may be on the horizon. “If this trend continues, and it looks like it will continue, we’re heading toward equilibrium in the housing market,” said Hale of Realtor.com.

Write to Shaina Mishkin at shaina.mishkin@dowjones.com