Lock-In Effect Keeps Inventory Tight—but 6.01% Mortgage Rates Could Change That

It's becoming more of a buyer-friendly environment as home prices are cooling, coupled with an increase in the amount of time homes are spending on the market, according to the Realtor.com® Weekly Housing Trends Report.

This is giving buyers more control during negotiations. Plus with mortgage rates at their lowest level since September 2022, potential homebuyers may be tempted to make a move.

Freddie Mac announced that the average mortgage rate for a 30-year fixed home loan is 6.01% for the week ending Feb. 19. Rates averaged 6.85% during the same period in 2025.

This week's Realtor.com report found that the national inventory recovery has stalled. Many current homeowners feel locked in to their low mortgage rate creating a "lock-in effect." This is limiting new listing activity.

But with lower mortgage rates, this could be the nudge home shoppers need and maybe an incentive for sellers to reenter the market, which would boost activity.

Housing trends

The number of homes for sale remains above 2025 levels—increasing 7.3% year over year—giving buyers more options, but inventory growth has slowed. Realtor.com data shows the year-over-year growth rate has slowed to the single digits. January inventory remains 17.2% below 2017-2019 levels, marking the biggest deficit to pre-pandemic benchmarks since March 2025—when that number was 20.2%.

Meanwhile, new listings increased 4.8% year over year. The number of new listings is a measure of sellers putting their homes up for sale. The increase points to a return to growth after a two-week lull.

It supports the recent data of existing-home sales dropping 8.4% last month from December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.91 million, the slowest sales pace in more than two years, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

All in all, homes are staying on the market longer. The report shows that active listings spent six days longer on the market than a year ago. The median time on the market has reached 71 days—that's a six-day increase compared with the same time in 2025.

And with more homes staying on the market longer, it's also led to the median listing price falling. The median listing price declined 2.9% year over year. Realtor.com economists found this to be the largest weekly price drop on record since they began tracking the data in summer 2018.

The size adjusted median list price per square foot also fell 2.2% year over year—marking the 24th consecutive week of decreases, which could signal that falling prices aren't necessarily because of a lower-quality mix of homes for sale.