Home Buyers Gain Power As Sales Fall And Price Cuts Rise, But 1 Region Bucks Trend

The U.S. home-sales market is beginning to tilt toward buyers, with new data from Redfin showing a mix of slowing demand nationally and uneven conditions across metro areas and regions.

Buyers are gaining some negotiating power as homes sit longer on the market, though mortgage rates remain elevated. It is still a relatively solid market for sellers, but not as strong as in recent years. Prices are holding up overall, yet homes are taking longer to sell and more sellers are cutting prices.

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Pending home sales declined in early April, another sign the housing market is cooling as higher borrowing costs and affordability pressures sideline buyers. Redfin reported pending sales fell 2.4 percent year over year, the steepest drop in three months, as mortgage rates climbed into the mid-6 percent range and pushed typical monthly payments to about $2,750.

Homes are also lingering on the market longer nationwide, with the typical property going under contract in about 51 days — the slowest pace for this time of year since before the pandemic. At the same time, the median sale price rose about 2 percent annually to roughly $393,000.

At the metro level, trends vary widely. Pandemic boomtowns in the Sun Belt — including markets like Phoenix, Austin and parts of Florida — are seeing the biggest increases in inventory and price reductions, giving buyers more leverage. In contrast, many Northeast and Midwest metros, where housing supply remains tight, are still relatively competitive, with fewer price cuts and homes selling closer to list price.

Regionally, the South and West are leading the shift toward a more buyer-friendly market, with higher shares of listings seeing price reductions and homes taking longer to sell. Meanwhile, the Northeast continues to show resilience due to constrained inventory, limiting how much prices and demand have softened. The Midwest is showing mixed conditions, with some metros cooling while others remain stable.

Nationwide, a growing number of sellers are adjusting to weaker demand by cutting prices. About 34 percent of listings have seen price reductions — the highest share for this time of year in more than a decade — underscoring the gradual shift in leverage toward buyers.

The combination of slowing sales, longer listing times and more frequent price cuts points to a housing market in transition. While prices have not declined nationally, the balance is shifting, with regional and metro-level differences shaping how quickly conditions are turning in buyers’ favor during what is typically the busy spring homebuying season.