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Several of America’s largest homebuilders are sounding a cautious note on the 2025 housing market, reporting softer-than-expected buyer demand. The pullback has been especially noticeable across key Sun Belt metros, where affordability pressures are biting.
This softer housing demand environment is causing unsold inventory to tick up. Indeed, since the pandemic housing boom fizzled out, the number of unsold completed U.S. new single-family homes has been rising:
July 2016 —> 58,000
July 2017 —> 65,000
July 2018 —> 65,000
July 2019 —> 80,000
July 2020 —> 58,000
July 2021 —> 34,000
July 2022 —> 38,000
July 2023 —> 70,000
July 2024 —> 103,000
July 2025 —> 121,000
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