Americans in the market to buy a home in October had the hottest buyer’s market in more than a decade, as the United States still has a shortage of homebuyers who can afford top dollar home prices, online real estate firm Redfin announced Nov. 19.
The United States had about 37 percent—or nearly 529,000 more—home sellers than buyers last month, according to the latest data.
Real estate has seen a buyer’s market in the United States since May 2024, and the gap has been over 30 percent since April, Redfin reported.
The last time the United States had a stronger buyer’s market was during the years after the 2008 financial crisis.
When sellers outnumber buyers, the buyers usually hold the negotiating power because they have so many more options from which to choose their next home.
“Of course, it’s only a buyer’s market for those who can afford to buy—many Americans have been priced out of the housing market as affordability has eroded,” Redfin said.
Redfin estimated the number of buyers using proprietary company data. The estimated number of sellers in the market is based on the number of active listings in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), a private brokers’ network of properties for sale.
“There’s a shortage of both first-time buyers and repeat buyers because mortgage rates and home prices have gone up so much in recent years,” said Matt Purdy, a Redfin Premier real estate agent in Denver. “At the same time, there are homeowners who need to sell because they have to relocate for a job or are getting divorced.”
Sellers are still looking for top dollar sales because they are focused on recouping their investment, while buyers are focused on having a low monthly payment, Purdy added.
“Oftentimes, the buyer ends up winning the negotiation because they have options—there are a lot of sellers who are desperate to make a deal happen,” Purdy said.
The number of homebuyers in the U.S. housing market dropped 1.7 percent to 1.44 million in October, compared to September. This was the lowest level on record aside from the start of the pandemic in April 2020, when homebuying was brought to a halt, Redfin reported.
Sellers have also been pulling back but not as quickly, the report showed.
A "For Sale" sign is displayed in front of a new home in a housing development as a maintenance worker sweeps the street in Fairfax, Va., on Aug. 22, 2023. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
The number of sellers in the market fell 0.5 percent in October compared to September, to an estimated 1.97 million—the lowest level since February. That marks the fifth-straight monthly decline in the number of sellers, Redfin stated.
Some sellers are also taking their properties off the market after watching their homes linger on the market for months with zero offers.
The strongest buyer’s markets last month were in Texas and Florida, while the strongest seller’s markets are in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Cleveland.
The housing market in San Francisco, California, has shifted from a buyer’s market to a balanced market, with roughly the same amount of estimated buyers as sellers, Redfin found.
The price of homes could also be plateauing, Redfin reported Nov. 18.
“The rollercoaster ride that the U.S. housing market has been on for the past five years appears to be leveling out,” Redfin said.
The median sale price for a home rose only 1.4 percent in October, compared to the same month last year.
Existing home sales are also flattening out. Redfin economists expect existing-home sales to end the year at the same level as 2024, which was the worst year for sales since 1995.
“Many would-be homebuyers and sellers are paralyzed by high prices and economic uncertainty,” Redfin Senior Economist Asad Khan said in a statement. “Homebuying activity has stabilized at below-normal levels, and while selling activity has also slowed, there are still a lot more sellers in the market than buyers.”
The typical home that went up for sale spent 51 days on the market this year—seven days longer than a year earlier and the slowest October pace since 2016, according to the company.
