Aug 18, 2026
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Add us on GoogleA slowdown in home sales in July has been attributed to high prices, coupled with higher mortgage rates. In some parts of the country, this market slump has seen sellers dropping prices to try and win sales.
In fact, some are even selling their homes for less than what they paid.
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According to one real estate data platform, several metro areas in Florida are feeling the pressure, with more than 10% of sellers listing their homes below the purchase price they paid themselves.
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Metros in Texas, Arizona and Colorado, which saw a boom during the pandemic, are also seeing list prices that are below previous purchase prices for more than 10% of listings.
Summer slump
According to data from real estate platform Redfin, U.S. home sales fell 4.1% in July compared to June, which was the lowest level in almost two years.
Redfin attributed falling sales to home prices that are “historically high,” pushing out would-be buyers, with the median U.S. home-sale price at $407,730, up 3.2% year over year. Mortgage rates have also been creeping back up, with the average 30-year fixed rate mortgage at around 6.54%, the highest monthly average since August 2025 (6.59%).
“The housing market suffered from a mid-summer slump in July as would-be buyers grappled with record-high home prices, increasing mortgage rates and growing financial insecurity,” Chen Zhao, head of economics research for Redfin, said in the report.
Redfin found that home sales were falling the quickest in Texas, which represents three out of the top five metros with declining home sales in the country: San Antonio (-12.6% year over year), Dallas (-10%) and Fort Worth (-9.9%), followed by Detroit (-9.3%) and Seattle (-9.1%).
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Selling at a loss in Florida
According to data from real estate data platform Parcl Labs, many metros in Florida are seeing listing prices that would see home sellers lose money.
A report from MarketWatch, using Parcl Labs’ data, which is updated daily, shows that five Florida cities are among the top-10 metros that have the biggest share of listings that are below the previous purchase price. In fact, two Florida cities top the list:
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- Lakeland, Florida: 18.40%
- Panama City, Florida: 16.87%
- Colorado Springs, Colorado: 16.17%
- Jacksonville, Florida: 15.13%
- Denver, Colorado: 14.74%
- North Port, Florida: 14.33%
- Punta Gorda, Florida: 13.92%
- San Francisco, California: 13.11%
- Urban Honolulu, Hawaii: 13%
- Portland, Oregon: 12.62%
According to MarketWatch, Parcl Labs says the national average for listings that are below the previous sale price is 6.6%.
In Texas, several metros also have a higher-than-average percent of listings that are below the prices that sellers paid: Kingsville (11.6%), Midland (10.3%), Lubbock (9.8%), Plainview (9.4%), San Angelo (9.4%), Austin (9.3%), Wichita Falls (9.2%), Amarillo (9.1%) and Waco (9.0%). In Arizona, 12% of Phoenix listings would see the sellers at a loss, with Tucson at 9.6%.
With sellers pricing below what they paid, it’s likely some are not confident that the market is going to improve. And some experts are on the same page.
“Near-term leading indicators provide no sign that sales are likely to pick up in the months ahead, with mortgage purchase applications grinding lower and mortgage rates following long-dated Treasury yields higher,” Oliver Allen, a senior U.S. economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, wrote in a note regarding existing home sales data for July, MarketWatch reported.
“A significant housing-market recovery is unlikely,” said Allen, adding that “as long as monetary policy remains relatively tight, the labor market subdued, confidence depressed and population growth constrained by tighter immigration policies.”
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Rebecca Payne has more than a decade of experience editing and producing both local and national daily newspapers. She's worked on the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, Metro, Canada's National Observer, the Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press.
