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By Alex Veiga

The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES 鈥� Homebuyers in Seattle, Silicon Valley and the other priciest markets in the U.S. are seeing more properties become available as mortgage rates finally start trending lower.

The number of newly listed homes for sale climbed 4.2 percent last month, according to data from Realtor.com. September鈥檚 jump was the biggest annual increase since the peak of the spring homebuying season, and helped lift active listings 34 percent from a year earlier, according to Realtor.com.

A dearth of properties for sale is one reason why the median U.S. home sale price is near record highs. The median U.S. home sale price hit an all-time high in June at $426,900.

Last month,聽the Federal Reserve announced its first interest rate cut in more than four years聽and signaled more cuts to come this year and through 2026.

The Fed doesn鈥檛 set mortgage rates, but its policy pivot cleared a path for mortgage rates to generally go lower.聽While mortgage rates rose this week,聽economists still expect them to ease in coming months and that could lead to more listings.

鈥淪ellers, especially those who are locked into a low rate, have been waiting for market conditions to change,鈥� said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com. 鈥淣ow that we鈥檙e seeing mortgage rates down to their lowest levels in two years, there are signs of movement, with more sellers putting homes on the market, even in what鈥檚 typically a real estate shoulder season.鈥�

Lower mortgage rates boost home shoppers鈥� purchasing power. They also can make selling a home more palatable for homeowners with mortgages that have a fixed rate below current prevailing rates.

The most expensive markets in the country drove much of the increase in newly listed homes last month. That includes metropolitan areas around Seattle, San Jose and Washington, D.C., Realtor.com found.

Even so, homeowners who can afford to hold off on selling are likely waiting for rates to come down a lot further than they already have. As of the second quarter, about 84 percent of all outstanding mortgages had a rate below 6 percent, and 56 percent of them had a rate below 4 percent, according to Realtor.com.

Hale expects the average rate for a 30-year home loan to stay around 6 percent through the end of this year. A year ago, the average rate hit a 23-year high of 7.79 percent, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac.

September marked the 11th consecutive month with an annual increase in active listings and the highest number of properties on the market since April 2020. The pickup in home listings is good news for the housing market, which has been in a聽sales slump for more than two years, partly due to a shortage of homes for sale.

Despite the September surge in new listings, the inventory of homes on the market remains below pre-pandemic levels. Active listings were down 23.2 percent last month compared to September 2019 and new listings were off 11.8 percent, according to Realtor.com.