10 Cities Where Homebuyers Now Have the Advantage Over Sellers
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Between rising mortgage rates, high inflation, sky-high real estate prices and an uncertain stock market, it’s really hard to buy a house now.
But after two years of pandemic-fueled price hikes and bidding wars, the balance of power in the housing market is finally shifting towards buyers — especially in western states like California.
That’s according to a new report from home-financing startup Knock, which finds that once-hot destinations like San Francisco, Phoenix and Boise City are cooling off and becoming a lot more buyer-friendly.
Knock uses data on home inventory, sales numbers, time on the market, list prices, sales prices and more to determine which cities are considered “buyer’s markets.” More inventory and lower sales prices mean that buyers have an easier time finding their dream home, while sellers are more likely to accept offers below their list price.
U.S. home sales: Top 10 buyer's markets
Below are the top 10 metro areas that were most favorable to homebuyers in August, according to Knock. In San Francisco, prices actually fell that month. For the other places in the top 10 buyer's markets, median home prices are rising more slowly than the national average of 8% annually.
- San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, California
- Salt Lake City, Utah
- Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, Arizona
- San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, California
- San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, California
- Fresno, California
- Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, Nevada
- Boise City, Idaho
- New Orleans-Metairie, Louisiana
Most housing markets still favor sellers — for now
Of course, the majority of cities in the U.S. are still more favorable to sellers rather than buyers. In August, Knock found that more than two-thirds of the 100 largest housing markets in the United States were more favorable to sellers.
But given where the economy is headed, the company expects the housing market to equally favor buyers and sellers by August of next year. Others are even more optimistic: 44% of economists and housing market experts polled by Zillow last month said they believe that housing market conditions will shift "decidedly" in favor of buyers in 2023.
Knock also predicts that a handful of hot markets will become more favorable to buyers over the next year, including Portland, Oregon; Jacksonville, Florida; Nashville, Tennessee; and Charlotte, North Carolina.
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