In what seems like a flash, the market has quickly — and significantly — turned into a buyer’s market. But in what should be a frenzy of deals, sales are running at a relative trickle.
The reasons are plentiful — economic uncertainty thanks to on-again, off-again tariffs, stubbornly high prices that have yet to move down the ladder, mortgage rates that cling to near 7%. Pick one, pick two. What the heck, pick all three.
Redfin reports that there are now 490,000 more sellers in the market than buyers. At no other time since the real estate brokerage house began keeping tabs have sellers outnumbered buyers by this large a margin — or percentage.
Currently, there are nearly 34% more sellers than buyers, or about four sellers to every three buyers. A year ago, sellers outnumbered buyers by just 6.5%. But just two years ago, buyers were falling all over themselves to land new listings just coming to market.
The most recent data point in Redfin’s analysis is April 2025. The estimated number of sellers in the market is simply the number of active listings in the multiple listing service (MLS). To estimate the number of buyers, Redfin created a model that uses data on pending sales and the typical time from a buyer’s first home tour to their purchase.
It’s not particularly scientific. But, looked at another way, as Redfin recently did, sellers are sitting on $698 billion worth of houses. That’s the aggregate of all active listings at the end of April, the most recent month for which data is available, and is an all-time high.
The brokerage says the record total value of houses results from a combination of three factors: growing inventory, slowing demand, and increasing home-sale prices.
Supply is at a five-year high, with houses sitting on the market longer. Not only does it now take the typical listing five days longer to go under contract than it did a year ago, nearly half have been for sale for two months or longer.
Demand, meanwhile, is slowing, with agents throughout the country reporting that would-be buyers are backing off due to record-high monthly housing costs and widespread economic instability. At the same time, the median sale price continues to rise (more slowly, yes, but rise nonetheless, by 1.4% year-over-year in April).
Add it all up, and buyers are now in the driver’s seat — except their choice of wheels remains firmly parked at the curb.
There just aren’t enough buyers to go around, says Matt Purdy, a Redfin agent in Denver. “House hunters are only buying if they absolutely have to, and even serious buyers are backing out of contracts more than they used to,” he states.
Take it all together — hesitant buyers, more houses for sale than in the previous five years, and the values of those places are higher than ever — and you have the makings of a buyer’s market. So much so that there are deals to be had, especially with sellers coming to the realization that if they are serious, they’re going to have to make some real concessions to land a buyer.
“The balance of power has shifted toward buyers, but a lot of sellers have yet to see or accept the writing on the wall. Many are still holding out hope that their home is the exception and will fetch top dollar,” comments Redfin Senior Economist Asad Khan.
As sellers see their homes sit longer on the market and notice fewer buyers coming through on tour, more of them will begin to realize the market has adjusted and reset their expectations accordingly. Right now we are in that great waiting period — waiting for reality to take hold.
