U.S. cities see sharpest drops in home price per square foot this fall

According to Realtor.com, the housing market is cooling as the season shifts, prompting sellers to cut prices to attract buyers amid high mortgage rates. For the tenth consecutive month, the national price per square foot fell 1.8% from a year earlier, and median list prices dropped in three of the four major regions. Austin experienced the largest year-over-year decline at 8.1%, with Tampa and Memphis also seeing notable drops.

Conversely, Providence, Indianapolis and Chicago posted the biggest gains. San Francisco stood out as an outlier, with a 5.2% reduction in median listing price and a 3.9% decline in price per square foot, while inventory levels fell sharply, keeping the market competitive. Realtor.com senior economist Jake Krimmel noted that many former boomtowns are now giving back pandemic-era price increases as inventory rises above pre-pandemic norms.