Alex Veiga, Associated Press Business Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Homeowners who are passionate about selling may have to wait a while for a buyer to arrive.
As of April, the US housing market had nearly 34% sellers than buyers buyers buy homes, according to an analysis by Redfin.
Other than April 2020, when the pandemic halted the economy and home sales activities, there were previously no such few buyers in the home market, based on records dating back to 2013.
This trend is good news for residential shoppers. If you can afford to buy at current mortgage fees and prices, it’s slow and is rising nationwide.
Few buyers mean less competition on the household list, more pressure on sellers, and pressure them to return the asking price and make other concessions to help them make deals. That’s a tough turnaround from just a few years ago when it wasn’t uncommon for homeowners to receive offers well above the asking prices from shoppers in multiple homes.
“While the balance of power in the US housing market is shifting towards buyers, many sellers have yet to see or accept the text written on the wall,” said Asad Khan, senior economist at Redfin.
The biased balance between buyers and sellers is reflected in the home sales that remain in a slump dating back to 2022, when the housing lock rate began to rise from the low rock bottom reached during the pandemic. Last year, sales of previously occupied US homes sank to their lowest levels in nearly 30 years. Last month’s sales fell to the slowest pace in April, dating back to 2009.
Sellers began to outperform buyers in November 2023 when the average 30-year mortgage rate rose to nearly 23 years’ high, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. This week’s average rate reached 6.89%, reaching its highest level since early February.
In April there were 1.9 million sellers and 1.5 million home buyers, or 490,041 fewer people in the market at home compared to sellers. A year ago there were 6.5% sellers than buyers. Two years ago, buyers outperformed sellers by 5.3%.
Based on Redfin, the number of sellers in April is based on an active list or based on the number of homes for sale at any time in that month. It estimated the pool of people in the home market by creating a model that takes into account some other data, such as the typical time it takes for someone to buy after taking a tour of the home.
Faced with a market with few potential buyers, some sellers have chosen to lower prices or provide sales incentives, such as agreeing to pay buyer closure fees and other expenses. One in five home listings were cut last month, according to Realtor.com.
According to Redfin, the growing imbalance between buyers and sellers should fall by 1% by the end of the year.
Prices are already beginning to fall in some metro areas. In the four weeks ended April 20, home prices fell in 11 of the top 50 metro areas in the US, including Dallas in Oakland, California and Jacksonville, California, according to Redfin.
According to Redfin, the market where the biggest gap between buyers and sellers is Miami. The strongest seller market is Newark, New Jersey, with 47.1% fewer sellers than buyers.
Despite being more leaning in favor of buyers, the housing market may remain out of hand for many Americans. Median U.S. home sales prices have grown by 53% over the past six years, far surpassing wage growth.
And while stocks of previously occupied US homes rose to the highest level since last month in September 2020, it still falls far below the level of pre-pandemic times and is lacking in the property most Americans can afford.
Before the pandemic, households making $75,000 a year could afford to buy almost half of all homes in the national market. A recent analysis by the National Association of Real Estate shows that as of March, only 21.2% of the household list were affordable. A home is considered affordable if monthly payments do not exceed 30% of a household’s monthly income.
“As housing inventory is not significantly boosted in price range below $260,000, the NAR report shows that the path to homeownership remains thwarted for millions of Americans ready to buy financially.”
Original issue: May 30, 2025, 11:29am EDT
