The US housing market just hit a record imbalance, and now buyers hold all the cards.
There are roughly 630,000 more sellers than buyers in the US housing market at the moment, the largest gap on record. Sellers now outnumber active buyers by approximately 46%, up sharply from just a year ago.
This isn’t a blip. It’s a structural shift in the housing market.
Buyer demand has pulled back sharply this year, squeezed by high mortgage rates, elevated prices, rising layoffs, and broader economic uncertainty.
Sellers have been slower to react, but growing availability of new construction inventory, paired with competitive financing and builder incentives, have many of them cutting asking prices, pulling listings, or delaying plans to sell altogether.
Buyers now have more negotiating leverage than they’ve had in years, but that doesn’t mean they’re actively buying anymore.
