Buyers aren’t calling the shots yet, but stay tuned

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Published Date 11/10/2025

For buyers who hold out hope for buying a home in 2025, it would be great to believe the housing market is about to flip. Realtor.com’s Allaire Conte says take heart — we're living through a market shift right now. Its slow, gentle nature just isn’t making headlines quite yet. So if you're trying to figure out whether now's the time to buy or sell, you're not alone.

She reports that after years of sellers calling all the shots, things are starting to change. Mortgage rates have dipped a bit, and active listings rose 17% year over year in September, marking the 23rd straight monthly gain. The typical home now sits for 62 days on the market—a full week longer than last year—and approximately 1 in 5 listings are cutting prices. But don't pop the Dom Perignon yet, as inventory bubbles still pop in territory significantly lower than pre-pandemic levels.

You may have forgotten what a seller's market looks like. Conte defines it as (1) there are fewer than 6 months of available housing inventory, (2) homes sell at or above asking price, (3) days on market are low (4) bidding wars become the norm again. If it all sounds familiar, it’s because most of the country has been stuck in this pattern since the early 2010s, when new-home construction never caught up after the 2008 financial crisis.

Realtor’s Chief Economist Danielle Hale noted as long ago as July that the balance of power in the housing market keeps shifting in favor of homebuyers. A report a month before that confirmed that growing inventory, price cuts, and slower-moving homes had given buyers more leverage than they'd had in years. Still, we're not swimming in buyer-market territory quite yet. Mortgage rates remain high, and list prices are holding steady, even growing a tad year over year. Think of it as “buyer-smiley” rather than buyer-controlled.

National averages don't tell the whole story, however, according to Conte. One Atlanta-based Realtor she consulted with says her last listing went under contract in 16 days, with another buyer's home selling in just 2 days. Jake Krimmel, senior economist at Realtor.com, suggests checking your local median “days on market” as well as the percentage of listings with price cuts to gauge your specific market.

For sellers, this isn't necessarily bad news. Strategic pricing, professional staging, and good timing can still generate multiple offers. For buyers, getting pre-approved, staying flexible with contingencies, and using escalation clauses wisely can help you compete without overpaying.

As Krimmel puts it, "The market is becoming relatively less favorable to sellers, but it’s still a seller's market in an absolute sense." Translation? The pendulum is swinging, but don’t take any bets on how far and how fast quite yet.

Realtor, TBWS

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Jeff Beck - NMLS ID: 19488. To verify licensing, visit NMLS Consumer Access (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org). 

Jeff Beck

Loan Expert

NMLS: 19488

American Home Lending USA

240 S Buchanan St, Edwardsville IL 62025

Company NMLS: 2239

Office: 618-310-0091

Cell: 618-806-2281

Email: jbeck@ahlusa1.com

Web: https://www.americanhomelendingusa.com/