home sellers are getting nervous as the once hot housing market cools fast one in five sellers in august dropped their asking price according to realtorcom a year ago that share was just 11 the average home sold for less than its list price for the first time in over 17 months during the fourweek period ended aug 28 according to a report by redfin homes are simply not selling at the breakneck pace they were six months ago when strong demand butted up against tight supply bidding wars were the norm and a seller could often get a signed contract in under a weekend homes in august sat on the market an average five days longer than they did a year ago the first annual increase in time on the market in over two years the supply of homes for sale is also rising fast up nearly 27 from a year ago even as fewer sellers decide to list pending sales in july which represent signed contracts on existing homes and which are the most recent sales data available were nearly 20 lower than july 2021 according to the national association of realtors for many of todays buyers the uptick in forsale home options is taking away the sense of urgency that they felt during the past two years when inventory was scarce said danielle hale chief economist for realtorcom as a result of this shift coupled with higher mortgage rates competition continued to cool in august with listing price trends indicating that home shoppers are tightening their purse strings the median listing price in august was 14 lower than august 2021 and nearly 42 lower than august 2019 before the coronavirus pandemic caused a mad rush on housing according to realtorcom mortgage rates have been rising since january hitting a recent high in june and then falling back slightly in july and much of august they are however rising again and are now nearly matching that june high redfin reported that requests for home tours and other homebuying services from its agents at the end of august was down 16 from the same period the year before touring activity was also down 9 from the start of the year compared with an 11 increase at the same time last year according to home tour technology company showingtime the postlabor day slowdown will likely be a little more intense this year than in previous years when the market was super tight said daryl fairweather redfins chief economist expect homes to linger on the market which may lead to another small uptick in the share of sellers lowering their prices