San Antonio logged a stiff year-over-year drop in new home listings in December — the largest among the nation’s biggest housing markets — a sign that would-be sellers are blinking as buyer demand thins and homes sit idle on the market.
The metro saw 2,120 new residential listings in December, down about 20 percent from a year earlier, according to Redfin data. That was the steepest decline among the top 50 U.S. metros and followed another weak month in November, when San Antonio ranked third nationwide with a 17.8 percent drop, the San Antonio Express-News reported.
Nationwide, new listings slipped a far milder 4.9 percent over the same period, highlighting how sellers in the Alamo City are retreating.
The pullback comes as San Antonio grapples with one of the most lopsided housing markets in the country. As of December, the metro had 102.5 percent more sellers than buyers, the fifth-largest imbalance among major markets, according to Redfin. Many would-be buyers — especially first-timers — are opting to rent rather than lock in today’s mortgage rates.
“The rental market is quite appealing right now,” Redfin economist Daryl Fairweather told the outlet, pointing to stable rents and borrowing costs that remain a hurdle, despite modest declines. San Antonio’s large veteran population, which often relies on low down payment loans, is particularly sensitive to rate increases, she added.
Peer cities across the Lone Star State aren’t faring much better. Austin posted the nation’s biggest seller-buyer imbalance in December, with 128 percent more sellers than buyers, alongside an 11.4 percent drop in new listings. Dallas also landed near the top of the imbalance rankings, with 86.8 percent more sellers than buyers, a gap fueled in part by years of aggressive homebuilding, according to the publication.
The imbalance is stretching out selling timelines. San Antonio homes spent a median of 99 days on the market in December, up 17 days from a year earlier — the second-largest increase among major metros, according to Redfin. Only Houston saw a bigger jump. In Austin, listings lingered even longer, at 106 days.
Sales are feeling the strain. In November, San Antonio recorded the largest year-over-year decline in closed sales nationwide, plunging from 2,683 in November 2024 to 2,082 closings in November 2025, or nearly 25 percent, according to Redfin.
Higher mortgage rates remain a key choke point. More than half of U.S. mortgage holders are locked into rates at or below 4 percent, the Wall Street Journal reported, while 30-year rates hovered around 6.1 percent in late January, according to Freddie Mac. That gap is keeping many owners on the sidelines.
There is a glimmer of momentum, however, as pending sales in San Antonio ticked up 1.1 percent in December, year-over-year.
— Eric Weilbacher
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