January 26, 2026 | 1.5 Minute Read
For months, many people have been hesitant to say it out loud. Now, we can say it with confidence: this is a buyer’s market—and it’s backed by data, not just sentiment.
According to Redfin, the U.S. housing market has shifted into the strongest buyer’s market in more than a decade.
What makes this moment unusual isn’t a flood of homes hitting the market.
Instead, buyer demand is falling faster than seller activity, and that imbalance is quietly shifting leverage in favor of buyers.
It may sound counterintuitive, but it matters. We break down what’s driving this shift and what it means for you and your clients.
In December, there were 47.1% more U.S. home sellers than buyers—the largest gap since Redfin began tracking this data in 2013. That gap widened by 7.1 percentage points from November, the biggest monthly increase since September 2022, and jumped 22.2 points compared to a year earlier.
Here are the key takeaways from Redfin’s latest update:
How Redfin defines a buyer’s market: A market is considered buyer-friendly when there are more than 10% more sellers than buyers. When there are more than 10% fewer sellers than buyers, it’s a seller’s market.
Falling buyer demand is driving the shift: Active buyers declined 5.9% month over month to 1.34 million—the lowest level on record. Sellers also pulled back, but only slightly, down 1.1% to 1.97 million. Year over year, buyer demand fell 11.8%, while the number of sellers increased 3.9%.
The Sun Belt leads the imbalance: The strongest buyer’s markets are concentrated in the Sun Belt, led by Austin (+128%), Fort Lauderdale (+125%), Nashville (+111%), Miami (+103%), and San Antonio (+103%). These markets reflect years of heavy construction now colliding with affordability constraints.
Prices are responding accordingly: Home prices rose just 0.6% year over year in buyer’s markets, compared to 3% in balanced markets and 4.9% in seller’s markets. Dallas stood out, with 86.8% more sellers than buyers and a 7.6% year-over-year price decline—the largest among major metros.
My opinion is that this isn’t a traditional housing glut—it’s a demand pullback. Buyers are stepping away faster than sellers, and that shift is creating leverage for those who remain active. The impact is most visible in the Sun Belt, where rising inventory and softening prices are becoming harder to ignore. Meanwhile, tighter Midwest and Northeast markets are proving more resilient.
For sellers, realistic pricing has never been more important. For buyers who are financially prepared, this is the most favorable negotiating environment we’ve seen in years.