America is Now a Buyer’s Market, Market briefs

In Houston, Buyers and would-be buyers now have the upper hand as a new era has emerged in the nation’s real estate market, as stated by a study by the Redfin realty organization.

A Redfin report determined there were an estimated 62.6% more home sellers than buyers in the U.S. housing market as of September, the biggest gap on records dating back to 2013, a clear indication that buyers have an enormous edge over sellers when it comes to making viable residential deals.

This condition, called a buyer’s market, happens when there are more homes for sale than there are active purchasers, giving potential buyers more bargaining power, access to lower prices, potential concessions from sellers and more time to select a dwelling that pleases.

Although there are many exceptions, and market strength can vary in different neighborhoods in the same city, Redfin says a buyer’s market exists in much of the country.

A seller’s market happens when buyers outnumber available homes, leading to fast sales, bidding competitions and higher prices that favor sellers. Today, only a few seller’s markets can be found in the U.S, Redfin said.

Housing Inventory Also has a Story to Tell

Another metric for market strength is the size of housing inventory or the number of houses for sale. It can be expressed as a “months supply.” The months inventory estimates the number of months it will take to deplete the current active inventory based in the prior 12 months of sales activity.

Ted C. Jones, chief economist for the Houston Association of Realtors and former leader of the Texas A&M Real Estate Center, has often stated that 6 months supply of housing inventory represents a balanced market where sellers and buyers are on a level playing field.

In Houston, the inventory of homes for expanded from a 5.1 months supply in September of 2025 to 5.5 months in September of 2026, as stated by the Houston Association of Realtors.

In The Har reported there were 40,192 single, family homes listed for sale in the Houston area in September.

In Houston, homes took an average of 58 days to sell in Septermber, compared with 56 days a year ago.

Redfin: Buyers Markets in the Sunbelt

The Redfin study says the Sun Belt is driving the strong buyer’s market nationwide, led by huge seller surpluses in Miami, Nashville and several Texas metros.

“This is a buyer’s market born out of caution, not strength,” said Asad Khan, a senior economist at Redfin. “Buyers have tremendous negotiating power in most of the country because so many would-be buyers have been priced out of the market or scared off by economic uncertainty.”

“House hunters with the finances and job security to purchase a home in today’s market have unique opportunities. They can be picky, negotiate and even walk away if the deal doesn’t make financial sense or they find a house they like better.”

Redfin defines a market where there are over 10% more sellers than buyers as a buyer’s market and a market where there are over 10% fewer sellers than buyers as a seller’s market. A market where the gap is plus or minus 10% is considered “balanced.”

Homebuyer Count at Lowest Level

The gap between buyers and sellers widened in September because buyers pulled back while sellers kept showing up.

An estimated 928,892 homebuyers populated the market nationwide in the ninth month, the lowest level in records dating back through 2013. That’s down 2.4% from a month earlier, which saw the fifth straight monthly decline.

On the other hand, an estimated 1,510,784 home sellers filled in the market, the most since March 2020, up 1.2% month over month.

Homeowners Keep Listing

Homeowners have continued listing homes despite falling demand because many chose to just stop waiting. After years on the sidelines, hoping rates would drop or demand would rebound, some sellers see little reason to keep waiting, especially with prices still high enough to sell at a gain.

Some homeowners choose to sell now because they’re concerned prices could drop if they wait longer. Others are listing out of necessity: new jobs, growing families, divorce or retirement, for example. Many homeowners who don’t need to move may decide not to list or pull their homes off the market. Many with substantial equity means there’s not much pressure to sell.

Miami Buyers Lead; Houston Third, Redfin Says

More than 80% of U.S. metro areas—41 of the 50 that Redfin analyzed—are buyer’s markets, the most in records dating back through 2013.

For the second straight month, Miami, Nashville and Houston have the biggest surpluses of sellers over buyers. In the top 13 buyer’s markets, there were more than twice as many sellers as buyers in September, all in the Sun Belt.

Four metros were “balanced” in September—neither buyer’s nor seller’s markets. Two New England metros are trending toward becoming buyer’s markets: Boston, where sellers outnumbered buyers by 7.4% after being roughly even the month before, and Providence, where sellers outnumbered buyers by 2.4%, a reversal from the prior month when there were 7.4% fewer sellers than buyers.

Buyers Got More Power

The surplus of home sellers over buyers grew month over month in all but two of the buyer’s markets in the nation in September.

The surplus increased most in Miami, which also has the biggest surplus of sellers over buyers. There were 158.9% more sellers than buyers in September, up from 134.5% the month before. The next-biggest monthly increase was in Tampa, where there were 103.7% more sellers than buyers in September, up from 82.2% in August. Warren, Mich. rounds out the top three (47.1% more sellers than buyers, up from 27.3%).

House hunters lost negotiating power in just two buyer’s markets. The surplus of sellers over buyers fell from August to September in St. Louis and Detroit, both of which are tilted in buyers’ favor, but not nearly as much as Sun Belt metros. In Detroit, there were 37.9% more sellers than buyers in September, down from 46.5% the month before. In St. Louis, it was 24.5%, down from 26.9%.

Just 5 Seller’s Markets in U.S.

Only five of the major U.S. metro areas Redfin analyzed were seller’s markets in September.

Nassau County, N.Y., was the number one seller’s market, with 28.6% fewer sellers than buyers. The other seller’s markets were Montgomery County, Pa. (-22.7%), Newark (-18.5%), Milwaukee (-16.1%) and San Francisco (-10.6%). That’s the second month in a row those five were the only seller’s markets in the nation.

The seller’s markets are concentrated in places where limited homebuilding has kept the housing supply tight. In the greater New York City area, years of constrained construction, combined with strong demand for homes near a major job center, have left buyers competing for relatively few listings. In San Francisco, the housing market has heated up as the AI boom creates wealth, driving a hike in home sales and competition among buyers.