Redfin says that the housing market is showing signs that haven't been seen since before the pandemic housing boom. This is the best time to buy a house.
It's taking longer for items to sell because there are more sellers than buyers, and sellers are offering incentives to help close deals. Redfin says that these factors are coming together more and more to make the market a buyer's market.
For one thing, the percentage of US homes that sell for more than the asking price has dropped to a springtime low of 28%. That number was 32% at this time last year, and it was 53% at the housing peak after the pandemic in 2022. The number tends to go up in the spring because that's when most people buy homes, from March to June.
The percentage of homes that sell for more than the asking price is a key indicator of the housing market because it shows how much desire there is among buyers. When the market is hot, buyers fight and bid above the list price. However, it looks like sellers are losing their pricing power and can't ask for as much more for their homes.
According to Redfin, this is happening almost everywhere in the country. The number of homes selling above asking price is going down year-over-year everywhere except in the five most populous metro areas.
The number of homes sold is going down, and the ones that do sell are staying on the market longer. So now we'll talk about potential home sales. They dropped 1.1% last year, to 87,720 for the four weeks ending June 8, 2025.
Third, the number of sales that are almost certain to happen within two weeks has dropped from over 40% this time last year to 37.6%. The last time these numbers were this low for the spring buying season was in 2020.
In the home market, there are about 500,000 more sellers than buyers. As homeowners move for job changes and return to work, the benefit of the mortgage rate lock-in slowly wears off.
People who bought homes during the pandemic boom paid a lot of money for them. They want to get their money back, but they're quickly learning that buyers aren't willing to pay prices from 2022. Affordability of housing is still a problem because owners are worried about the economy and a possible recession.
This means that there is a difference between the median list price and median sale price, which is Redfin's fourth cue. People are selling homes for an average of $425,950, but people are buying them for an average of $397,000. This is a 7% savings. In 2021 and 2022, it was the other way around: the median sale price was often higher than the list price.
When the market slows down, sellers have to lower their prices or offer other benefits to get people to buy.
It's good for buyers when those who buy lose: Redfin thinks that by the end of the year, home prices could drop by 1%.
Ready to make a purchase in the Cincinnati area? Contact Hersey Group.
