Iowa Housing Market Cools with Seasonal Shifts, Builds Toward Strong Fall

The Iowa housing market saw signs of typical seasonal shifts in August, as sales activity cooled slightly amid the waning summer days. Still, the latest statewide housing market data from Iowa REALTORS® points to a pleasant fall market in Iowa. 

“August brought some balance back to the market that we’ve been hoping to see,” said Travis Bushaw, 2025 President of Iowa REALTORS®. “We’re seeing increased options for buyers because of more inventory than we’ve had in recent years, which has also cooled increases in median sale price. In addition to stability with home prices, we also saw that August held steady with both June and July for closed single-family homes. Overall, we’re still very much in a dynamic market, and as we watch interest rates slowly decrease, we may enter a fall real estate market that is hotter than this summer market.” 

New listings began a traditional late summer dip, thanks in part to families settling in for the upcoming school year. With 4,040 single-family properties hitting the markets, the  month saw a 2.1% decline from the 4,125 new listings of a year ago. Monthly, new listings declined 9.5% from the 4,462 new listings of July. 

Active inventory on the other hand experienced increases across the board with 9,156 single-family homes listed. Year-over-year, the active inventory grew 13.4% from the 8,072 active listings of August 2024. Compared to July’s 8,848 listings, active inventory increased 3.5%. 

Sales continued to increase in August, jumping 2.9% to 3,359 closed sales compared to the 3,266 of a year ago. Monthly, sales dipped ever so slightly by 0.1% from the 3,364 homes sold in July. 

Median sales price climbed 3.3% in August to $253,000, but remained flat compared to July’s metrics. 

Days on the market increased 28.6%, jumping to 18 days from the 14 days on market a year ago. The increase was similarly month-over-month, jumping 20% from July’s 15 days on market. 

“The end of summer traditionally brings a slight coolness to the housing market, but there are plenty of warm spots remaining,” Les Sulgrove, Iowa REALTORS® statewide housing analyst, said. “When you look at active inventory, we’re over the 9,000 listing threshold, a figure we didn’t see at all in 2024. We continue to build inventory, bringing options to buyers.” 

Condo & Townhomes
The condo and townhome market found balance in late summer. New listings grew slightly - 1.4% - to 521 condo and townhomes from the 514 new listings of August 2025. Monthly, the figure decreased by 14.3% from the 608 new listings of July. 

Active inventory continued to showcase the wealth of options available to buyers interested in condos and townhomes, increasing 13.7% to 1,785 from the 1,570 active listings of a year ago. However, active inventory dropped 3% from the 1,841 listings active last month. 

Closed sales saw dips in both yearly and monthly metrics. The 437 sales of August represent a 2.5% decrease from the 448 sales that occurred in August 2024, and a 0.2% decrease from the 438 sales of last month. 

Median days on market increased to 27 days in August, a 42.1% jump from the 19 days on market in 2024, and a 12.5% increase from the 24 days on market in July. Median sales price decreased 3.7% in August to $236,000 from the $244,995 of August 2024. 

A Closer Look
Pricing remains a tantamount consideration for buyers and sellers alike in the Iowa housing market. 

In August, the list price received sat at 97.7%, a figure that details the difference between a properties list price and what it eventually sold for. 

“That’s a pretty normal number,” Sulgrove said. “We usually sell within about 3% of the list price. August is right on track from last year. We like to not see a lot of fluctuation on this.” 

The sentiment for the metric was similar to that of median sales price, which sits at $254,000 for a single-family home. Sulgrove noted that the slight increase from last year shows that there’s some appreciation in the market.