Market Update, August 28, 2025

Have you heard about the surge in “de-listed” homes around the country? National news has been reporting that huge numbers of sellers are taking their homes off the market because they haven’t sold.

Since we continue to see this covered everywhere, we thought we’d take a look at our local market and see if sellers here are also removing more homes than usual from the market.

First, let’s understand what it could mean if more sellers are deciding to take their homes off the market without selling.

If this is the case in Denver, as it is in the rest of the country, it could be because seller expectations are not aligning with the current market reality. They are unwilling to sell at a price lower than what they believe their home is worth, often based on peak pandemic-era values. The other key reason is that many sellers have a very low interest rate on their current mortgage and don’t feel forced to sell in order to move.

A large portion of today’s sellers have low-rate mortgages from the last few years. This gives them a significant advantage: they don’t have to sell if they don’t get the price they want. This “luxury” of being able to wait out the market is very likely a key driver of the trend.

For many sellers, dropping the price feels like a “loss.” Delisting the home allows them to regain a sense of control and avoid the stigma of a long-lingering listing with multiple price reductions. It’s a way for them to “reset” and wait for a more favorable market, or at least a buyer who will meet their price.

Even though new listings are still relatively low, the total active inventory is piling up because homes aren’t selling as fast as they are being listed. This creates a crowded field for sellers, making it harder for a property to stand out.

This trend indicates a shift in leverage from sellers to buyers. A delisted property is a sign of a motivated, or soon-to-be-motivated, seller. Buyers can use this to their advantage. So if we’re seeing this in Denver, it could be another indicator that we’re in a market favorable to buyers.

So, what’s happening in our market?

Let’s take a look at four counties over the past 450 days and see what’s going on.

In each of these four counties, more sellers have taken their homes off the market during the past ninety days than any other 90-day period. So the national trend is also a local trend.

Buyers can now ask for concessions that would have been unthinkable a few years ago, such as:

• Seller concessions to help pay closing costs.

• Seller-paid rate buydowns to lower the buyer’s long-term mortgage rate.

• Credits for repairs or other concessions after a home inspection.

It’s important to understand that the delisting trend is not a sign of a “market crash,” but rather a sign of a market recalibration. It’s a return to a more balanced, albeit challenging environment for sellers, where strategy, accurate pricing, and expert guidance are more important than ever.