Is the U.S. a buyer’s or seller’s market?
This is the question everyone wants answered. In the U.S., sellers have enjoyed the upper hand for most of the past decade.
“We’ve been in a seller’s market pretty consistently since 2016,” says Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com. But is the market finally moving to favor U.S. buyers again?
Three key market indicators, tracked by Realtor.com data, suggest it could be on the turn. First up, supply: new property listings ticked up 7% in the year to May 2025. Over the same period, the median time homes took to sell increased by 13%. And finally, the number of homes offered at a reduced price rose by almost a third year-over-year.
Together, these indicators show more homes coming on to the market and staying there for longer—increasing buyers’ bargaining power across most price points.
As ever, the national picture conceals variability. While the median time on the market for homes in Massachusetts was 30 days in May 2025, it was 73 days in Florida. Similarly, in the year to May, price reductions were up 83% in Nevada compared with just 13% in New York. These geographical variations also speak to the resilience of luxury real estate.
According to Realtor.com’s High End Housing Market Trends and Outlook, published in April, time on the market for high-end homes edged down year-over-year between Q1 2024 and Q1 2025, while price reductions stabilized for homes valued at more than US$1 million.
So who does the market favor most? As the graphic above shows, the headline indicators are ticking towards a buyer’s market nationally but given current sales values, sellers retain the advantage when it comes to luxury homes. That said, the stronger performance of high-end real estate overall arguably leaves buyers eyeing opportunities.