Buyers Market Takes Hold: How to Navigate the Shift in U.S. Housing Market Dynamics

The U.S. housing market is finally tilting in favor of homebuyers, but the reality is that many are still priced out of the market. The spring buying season is underway, and it’s a strange one. There are more homes for sale than in years past, but few are actually selling due to high prices. Sellers are realizing they no longer have the upper hand, and many are offering concessions to attract buyers.

This is a sharp reversal from the pandemic-era boom, when remote work and ultra-low mortgage rates warped the housing market into a supercharged seller’s market. By 2021, buyers outnumbered sellers by 900,000, fueling bidding wars and pushing prices higher. But the power has shifted, and after two years of rising mortgage rates, home sellers began to outnumber buyers in late 2023. This gap has now widened to nearly 500,000, the largest on records dating back to 2013, according to Redfin.

Nationally, it’s now a buyer’s market—even though for some, it doesn’t feel like it. But trends vary from city to city, as high prices and borrowing costs keep demand in check. Here, Redfin shares what to know about buyer’s versus seller’s markets, how to tell which market you’re in, and where each side has the most leverage right now.

What is a buyer’s market versus a seller’s market?

Buyer’s market

A buyer’s market occurs when supply (the number of homes listed on the market) exceeds demand (the number of buyers looking for homes). In this scenario, buyers usually drive negotiations and are more likely to receive concessions from sellers. Home prices often cool off in a buyer’s market, which can ironically help spur competition and swing the pendulum back toward sellers.

Seller’s market

A seller’s market often occurs when demand exceeds supply. Buyers outnumber sellers, creating more competition and fueling bidding wars. Sellers typically lead negotiations and see homes sell for above asking prices. House prices tend to rise during a seller’s market.

The strongest buyer’s markets in 2025

Sellers outnumber buyers by the most in these 10 metros, giving buyers more leverage:

The Sun Belt—cities stretching from the Southeast to the Southwest—boomed during the pandemic as homebuyers searched for warm weather and affordable prices. Homebuilding ramped up as a result, but many houses are now struggling to sell; buyer demand dropped due to quickly rising prices, climate risks, and climbing insurance costs. Florida’s housing inventory reached its highest level on record this year.

The strongest seller’s markets in 2025

Buyers outnumber sellers by the most in these metros, meaning sellers may be able to net a higher sale price than in a neutral market. Redfin defines a “seller’s market” as one where the buyers outnumbered sellers by at least 10%, and only seven metros made the cut.

The Rust Belt—cities across the Midwest and Northeast—have built the fewest homes since the pandemic. Now, as people turn to the region for homes they can afford, supply is falling far short of what’s needed and pushing prices up. In Newark, for example, prices rose by 12.2% year over year to hit a record-high median sale price of $635,000 in April.

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