Balance of Power: Buyers and Sellers

When sellers outnumber buyers, buyers can expect more inventory to choose from and more negotiating power, while sellers can expect fewer buyer visits and a longer time on market. That’s why a market with a lot more sellers than buyers is considered a buyer’s market, and a market with a lot fewer sellers than buyers is considered a seller’s market. Nationally, we define 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 a balanced market. We estimated the number of buyers using proprietary Redfin data and data from multiple listing services (MLS). The estimated number of sellers in the market is simply the number of active listings in the MLS. These estimates are subject to revision.