Housing markets where homebuyers have gained the most power, as told by days to pending

Today’s letter is brought to you by the Lennar Investor Marketplace!

The spring 2022 housing market was one of the most competitive periods on record. In many housing markets, homes went pending within hours.

Four years later, the landscape looks very different.

According to Zillow data, the typical U.S. home listed for sale in May 2026 went pending after roughly 18 days—three times longer than the 6-day national median recorded in May 2022.

Median days to pending offers a timely glimpse into the supply-demand equilibrium of local housing markets. Because homes typically go pending weeks before they close, the metric often captures shifts in market conditions sooner than closed-sales data.

If homes begin taking longer to go pending, it can signal that buyers are gaining leverage. Conversely, falling days to pending may indicate a market that's tightening.

The maps below show just how dramatically conditions have shifted across the country.

LEFT: Median days to pending in May 2022

RIGHT: Median days to pending in May 2026

While homes are generally taking longer to sell almost everywhere, the slowdown has been far more pronounced across core homebuilding markets in pockets of the Sun Belt.

Large portions of Florida, Texas, and the Southeast have seen median days to pending rise sharply since the end of the Pandemic Housing Boom, reflecting a market where inventory has increased and buyers have gained leverage.

By contrast, many markets across the Northeast and Midwest remain relatively tight-ish. In numerous metros across Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, and upstate New York, homes are still going pending in less than a week, according to Zillow’s data seriess.

Among the nation's 250 largest housing markets, the 10 metros with the longest median times to pending on Zillow in May 2026 were:

Meanwhile, the 10 metros with the shortest median times to pending on Zillow in May 2026 were:

Other housing markets that also had a median days to pending of 6 days in May 2026 included: Dayton, OH; Syracuse, NY; York, PA; Reading, PA; Manchester, NH; Peoria, IL; Ann Arbor, MI; Erie, PA; and Topeka, KS. 

In Miami, the median home went pending in just 10 days in May 2022; by May 2026, that figure had climbed to 52 days. Tampa rose from 5 days to 34 days, Jacksonville increased from 5 days to 43 days, and Austin went from 11 days to 41 days. Similar slowdowns have occurred across other parts of Florida, Texas, and the Southeast.

By contrast, many Northeast and Midwest markets have remained relatively tight. Chicago went from 6 days to 8 days, Philadelphia from 7 days to 9 days, Boston from 6 days to 8 days, and Cincinnati from 3 days to 6 days over the same period.

Buyers in many markets now have considerably more negotiating power than they did a few years ago. Homes are taking longer to attract offers, giving buyers more time to compare listings, negotiate pricing, and request concessions.

At the same time, many Northeast and Midwest markets continue to face limited inventory, helping keep selling times relatively short (ish) despite affordability pressure.

NOTE: Due to seasonality, median days to pending should be compared to the same month in prior years. Local MLS rules and market-specific seasonal patterns can also affect the numbers. The figures above reflect median days to pending—not median days on market (Median days on market can include additional time after a home goes under contract, depending on the data provider’s methodology). For the most apples-to-apples comparison—whether using median days to pending or median days on market—you shouldn’t compare figures across different data providers. Methodologies can vary slightly. The best comparison is to use the same data provider/data series and compare a market to the same month in prior years.

Over the past week, ResiClub PRO members got these 3 additional housing research articles:

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KB Home is fighting off 'some pressure on material cost'—9 things to know from their latest earnings

59,106 —> That's how many future homesite lots KB Home—a giant homebuilder ranked No. 574 on the Fortune 1000—has rights to.

For perspective, the entire Northeast is pacing to complete around ~60K single-family homes this year.

Of those lots, 62% are owned directly by KB Home—compared to 2% for Lennar.

--> 36,646 are directly owned by KB Home

--> 22,460 are controlled rights held by KB Home

On Tuesday, KB Home said it plans to keep it that way.

KB Home Executive Chairman Jeffrey Mezger: “We have a favorable lot position, owning or controlling over 59,000 lots at the end of our second quarter, 38% of which were controlled, and with only one community with approximately 100 lots that was land banked. Our long standard approach has been to self finance our land acquisitions, as we believe that only in certain situations does land banking make economic sense for our company, given the gross margin erosion and limited risk transfer from the transaction. This approach has the added benefit of a balance sheet that is more transparent. Our growth strategy remains primarily centered on expanding our share within our existing markets with the geographic footprint that we believe is positioned for long-term economic and demographic growth."

Amid the recent cyclical cooling window, KB Home's total number of lots has been slipping (similar to late 2022).

KB Home Executive Chairman Jeffrey Mezger: “The lots owned and controlled started going down [for us] as the market started going down, and as things got very volatile, if you will, with pricing and consumer sentiment and whatnot. We were having trouble getting things to underwrite. If you go back to the 2021-2022 market, it was going the other way—it was easier to underwrite, and we tied up a lot of deals. So, as we sit here today, we're actively looking at deals each week. We intend to grow the company, and we're [well] positioned. Our balance sheet supports it, and we do have growth targets out there for 2027 and 2028 that the divisions are pursuing. What is interesting? We're seeing some opportunities for finished lot deals as the markets are resetting, where we can get into things we have plug and play product and get to deliveries sooner than later, as opposed to what we've been through in the Bay Area with long-term entitlement plays. So the market is rational to me, and there's finished lot opportunities, and we're chasing those right now.”