Iowa’s housing market cooled in September, with the median sold price falling 3.77% from August to $255,000. Prices are still up 4.08% from a year ago, and the median listing price of $285,000 is up 0.74% year over year, though the roughly $30,000 gap between asking and sale prices suggests buyers have room to negotiate. Homes are also taking longer to sell, with the median home spending 58 days on the market, about three days more than in August, while inventory held steady at 23,990 active listings.

Iowa’s modest price gains stand out against a softening national market, where sellers are cutting prices at an unusual pace. The share of active listings with a price reduction rose to 20.8% in September, up 0.9 percentage points from a year earlier and the highest September reading since 2018, according to Realtor.com. The national median list price was $419,250, down 1.2% from August and 1.4% from a year ago.

The Midwest is feeling it too, with 20.7% of listings in the region seeing a price cut even as its median list price held flat from last year at $320,000. Rather than pulling homes off the market, sellers nationally have mostly stayed put, with about 5.6% of listings delisted in September, in line with a year ago.

Renters in Iowa saw the biggest shift of all. The median rent was $1,100 a month, unchanged from August but down 7.17% from a year ago, as rental supply jumped 12.68% to 2,612 properties, giving renters more options and landlords more reason to compete on price.