Market pendulum swings toward spring homebuyers

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Published Date 5/5/2025

When Real Estate News’ Dave Gallagher asked the question, “Is it starting to look rosy for buyers this spring?,” he was referring to how the intensity appears to be dialing back in the Mid-Atlantic real estate market. Good news for homebuyers who want to solidify a deal this spring.

“A new Bright MLS survey conducted among about 3,000 agents found that fewer bidding wars took place in the region — which includes Washington, D.C. — during the first quarter of 2025,” says Gallagher.”With inventory on the rise, this spring has been favorable for buyers.”

He also quotes Bright MLS Chief Economist Lisa Sturtevant who says, ”While it's not officially a buyer's market yet, the pendulum is clearly swinging away from the intensely competitive conditions of recent years. Buyers are seeing more options and facing fewer obstacles compared to this time last year."

For a number of buyers, it's evidently not taking as long this year to find a home. “Nearly 40% of those who closed on a home during the first three months of 2025 searched for less than a month — double the share who spent the same amount of time house hunting during the first quarter of 2024, the survey found,” says Gallagher.

A good 50% of buyers only had to make one offer to snag a home — another increase that signals buyer conditions are easing, he reports. Sturdevant agrees: "This marks a notable change from the past few years, when buyers were competing over a dearth of inventory and typically had to make offers on multiple homes before they reached the settlement table.”

For first time buyers, however, it’s still not a cakewalk. Just 43% closed on a home after making just one offer, compared to 51% of repeat buyers.

Are these lucky buyers getting everything they want? Well. Not everything. “Compromises remain necessary,” says Gallagher: “Though competition appeared to be easing for buyers, nearly half (45%) still said they made compromises on their home wish list, with location serving as the most common trade-off buyers made, followed by home quality and price.”

And those who settle for homes "as is" means those buyers felt lingering competition pressure and concern about missing out, according to Sturtevant, who adds that high rates are discouraging fewer buyers.

Interestingly enough, mortgage rates might not need to fall much in order to get buyers off the sidelines, says Gallagher. “More than 80% of agent survey respondents said the buyers they worked with found it ‘very easy or ‘somewhat easy’ to qualify for a mortgage.” Add to that the fact that 42% fewer potential buyers this year hit pause on their search for a home, and it appears a shift is indeed occurring. That number is being compared with nearly 60% of buyers who gave up during the first quarter of 2024.

If rates continue to decline, "that could be enough, along with more inventory, to entice more buyers into the market this spring," Sturtevant wrote.

RealEstateNews, TBWS

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