After years of historically tight inventory, the American housing market is showing the first sustained signs of loosening. Active listings in twelve of the twenty largest metropolitan areas rose for the fourth consecutive month in May, with the most pronounced gains concentrated in the Sun Belt.

Builders, who pulled back sharply during the pandemic, have ramped construction of single-family homes priced below the regional median. The shift, while modest, has begun to translate into measurable relief for first-time buyers who had been priced out of the market through much of the past three years.