10 things to know about the property market: December 2025

IRVINE, Calif., December 16, 2025 — Cotality, a leading global property information, analytics, and data-enabled solutions provider, released its latest list on the 10 things to know about the property market for December 2025.

The housing market saw a significant deceleration in home price growth over the course of 2025. Home price increases slowed from a 3.4% annual increase in January to 1.1% by October. Along with price growth hitting a decade-low, the share of metros experiencing year-over-year price declines surged to one-third of the largest 100 metros.

That slowing in price growth has had ripple effects. As housing wealth hit a record $48.6 trillion, homeowners began tapping into accumulated equity. Home equity lending reached its highest level since 2008. Still, the share of seriously delinquent mortgages slightly increased, particularly for FHA loans.

There have also been sharp regional variations in the market this year. Federal sector layoffs and a government shutdown led inventory in the Washington, D.C. to spike by a record 60%. That jump led to home listings lingering around longer, with a 36% rise in median time on market.

Still, investor activity remained robust. Investors represented a substantial segment of the market this year, spending $483 billion on nearly a million single-family home purchases. Nationally, the rental market softened, with single-family rent growth slowing to a 15-year low.

Looking ahead to 2026, Cotality expects a modest recovery. Home price growth is forecast to climb at about 3% nationally although affordability issues and rising non-mortgage costs pose key risks.

U.S. Housing Market Trends

1. Home Price growth slowed throughout 2025. January recorded stable 3.4% annual increases, but by October home price growth dropped to just 1.1%, the lowest since 2012. Within the span of three years, the housing market has changed markedly. Compared with the robust gains of 2022, when some metros saw over 30% appreciation, this year was marked by price declines. At the start of the year, only six metros posted year-over-year drops, but by October, that number surged to 32, spreading beyond Florida into Texas, California, and the Mountain West.
2. While national for-sale inventory increased in the single-digits in November 2025, the greater Washington, D.C. region saw record-breaking 60% year-over-year increase in inventory. The number of homes on the market was up at least 40% in all five metropolitan divisions. The sharpest rise was seen in the Frederick-Gaithersburg-Bethesda, MD metro division on the northern edge of the metro area, where the number of unsold homes was up 68% since November 2024.
3. Median time on market for listings in the Washington, D.C. region rose 36% year-over-year, far outpacing the 10% increase for the nation. Both the increase in time on market and the surge in unsold inventory came after large-scale layoffs in the federal government. This skew in the market was amplified by a two-month-long government shutdown in October and November.
4. Investors maintained a strong market presence in 2025. In 2025 (through October), investors spent $483 billion on just under one-third of all single-family home purchases. Investor activity is on track to surpass 2024 totals of $475 billion spent on 1.05 million homes.
5. The typical age for first-time homebuyers (FTHB) remains close to 32 years old.  Median age for first-time buyers is up in expensive regions like California but it’s dropped in less costly Midwestern and Southern cities. This year, the median age for first-time buyers is 36 in both Los Angeles and San Francisco, 35 in New York, 32 in Dallas, 28 in Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA, and 27 in Columbus, IN.
6. Annual single-family rent growth slowed this year, falling to a 15-year low by October. Metros with year-over-year declines in the Single-Family Rent Index grew from eight of the largest 50 metros in January to 18 in October. However, those decreases haven’t erased gains from 2021 and 2022. Despite recording the largest drops in October rent prices, Cape Coral, Florida, and North Port, Florida, are still up 27% and 32%, respectively, over the past five years.

U.S. Mortgage Market Trends

7. Housing wealth peaked in 2025. The total value of the residential housing stock hit a record $48.6 trillion in Q2 2025, before pulling back slightly to $48.4 trillion. Since the start of the decade, the market has created $18 trillion in residential housing wealth, which is $6 trillion more than was added during the entire 2010s.
8. The share of seriously delinquent mortgages (90 days-past-due or more) slightly increased to 0.94% in September 2025 from the same time last year. Serious delinquency rates for Federal Housing Administration (FHA), U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and conventional loans were 4.12%, 2.13%, and 0.63%, respectively. The largest increase in serious delinquency rate was for FHA loans which were up 58 basis points year-over-year. In contrast, the serious delinquency rate for VA loans and conventional loans saw a minor decrease of 5 basis points and 2 basis points, respectively.
9. Home equity lending rose to the highest level since 2008. During the first three quarters of 2025, lenders originated more than 557,000 new home equity loans totaling about $31.6 billion. The number of home equity loans and their amounts have increased by 3% and 10%, respectively, year-over-year in 2025. Home equity loans are gaining popularity as homeowners seek to tap into their accumulated equity.

Looking Ahead to 2026

10. Cotality expects the 2026 housing market to begin a modest recovery in 2026. The path to recovery will be supported by labor stability and a gradual easing of inflation and mortgage rates, which are expected to stay above 6%. National home prices should rise by about 3%, with gains centering around northeastern and midwestern markets. However, affordability pressures and financial strain still pose a risk to recovery. Rising non-mortgage costs (insurance, property taxes) could cause "escrow shock" or localized delinquency spikes, especially for low-down-payment borrowers. Persistent inventory shortages and elevated consumer debt will continue to deepen regional disparities and K-shaped recovery dynamics.

‍

Home equity loans reached the highest level since 2008

‍Data source: Cotality, 2025

‍

About Cotality

Cotality accelerates data, insights, and workflows across the property ecosystem to enable industry professionals to surpass their ambitions and impact society. With billions of real-time data signals across the life cycle of a property, we unearth hidden risks and transformative opportunities for agents, lenders, carriers, and innovators. Get to know us at www.cotality.com.  

‍

Media Contact

Charity Head

Cotality

Newsmedia@cotality.com