According to the National Housing Conference (NHC), a recent blog post from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University indicates a growing number of metro areas where home prices are either declining or showing signs of stagnation, "signaling potential relief from the multi-year upward trajectory that surged dramatically during the pandemic and locked potential buyers out of homeownership. Data from Freddie Mac shows that in the first quarter of 2025, 12 out of the 100 largest metro areas experienced price declines, a figure that grew to 29 markets by June, the highest since mid-2023. Price reductions have mostly occurred in the South and West, regions where housing inventories have expanded the most. Cape Coral, Fla., for example, saw a 46% inventory increase from pre-pandemic levels and reported a 7.8% decline in home prices." NHC notes that "While this slowdown does not yet indicate wide affordability gains, monitoring this dynamic is crucial to understanding the impact of broader inventory growth."