In the monthly REALTORS® Confidence Index Survey, the National Association of REALTORS® asks members “For the last house that you closed in the past month, how long was it on the market from listing time to the time the seller accepted the buyer’s offer?”

Nationally, properties sold in March 2016 were typically on the market for 47 days (59 days in February 2016; 52 days in March 2015), according to the March 2016 REALTORS® Confidence Index Survey Report.  Approximately 42 percent of properties were on the market for less than a month when sold. About 13 percent were on the market for longer than six months.

In January–March 2016, properties typically sold within a month in the District of Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Colorado, Kansas, and Minnesota. Properties typically sold between 31 and 45 days in California, Utah, Arizona, Nebraska, Missouri, and Texas. Local conditions vary, and the data is provided for REALTORS® who may want to compare local markets against other states and the national summary.

median days on market

Fewer days on the market are an indication that inventory remains tight. The level of new 1-unit homes and existing homes for sale stood at 1.99 million homes per month in 2015Q4, a level below the 2.17 million of monthly inventory in 2000Q4.  In terms of the housing stock, 4.2 new and existing homes were on the market monthly for every 100 housing units in 2015Q4, down from 5.2 in 2000Q4.

housing stock

11 Respondents were asked “For the last house that you closed in the past month, how long was it on the market from listing time to the time the seller accepted the buyer’s offer?” The median is the number of days at which half of the properties stayed on the market. In generating the median days on market at the state level, we use data for the last three surveys to have close to 30 observations. Small states such as AK, ND, SD, MT, VT, WY, WV, DE, and D.C., may have fewer than 30 observations.