Just three of the nation’s 50 most populous metropolitan areas qualified as seller’s markets in October, according to Redfin.
This figure matched that of April 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic froze home transactions nationwide, the brokerage said in its Nov. 12 report.
All three seller’s markets were in the Northeast: Nassau County, New York; Newark, New Jersey; and Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
Nassau County was the strongest seller’s market, with 24.7 percent fewer sellers than buyers. Newark had 14.3 percent fewer sellers, while Montgomery County had 12.1 percent fewer.
All three markets saw their gaps shrink in October, however, moving closer to buyer’s market territory.
Milwaukee, which favored sellers in September, became balanced in October.
Redfin defines a buyer’s market as one in which sellers outnumber buyers by more than 10 percent. A seller’s market is the reverse. A gap smaller than 10 percent is considered balanced.
“Buyers looking in these pockets of the Northeast should be prepared for a very different experience than buyers elsewhere in the country,” said Asad Khan, Redfin’s senior economist.
“They may have less room to negotiate, especially on desirable, move-in-ready homes, and could face multiple-offer situations.”
Redfin attributed the Northeast’s tighter conditions in part to limited homebuilding. In the greater New York City area, demand for homes near a major employment center has added to competition among buyers.
Nationally, sellers outnumbered buyers by an estimated 70.5 percent, the widest gap in Redfin’s data going back to 2013. October marked the sixth consecutive month in which that gap hit a record.
Redfin estimated that 895,752 buyers were active nationwide in October, down 2 percent from September and the lowest count in its records.
The estimated number of sellers rose 0.9 percent to 1,526,984, the highest since March 2020.
Of the 50 metro markets analyzed, 41 favored buyers and six were balanced. Miami had the greatest surplus of sellers, with 195.8 percent more sellers than buyers, followed by Nashville at 159.5 percent, and Las Vegas at 149.9 percent.
Nearly all of the top 13 buyer’s markets are in the Sun Belt, which experienced a massive post-pandemic homebuilding boom.
A separate report by Realtor.com showed that homes were accumulating on the market in October even as sellers brought fewer homes for sale.
Active listings increased 7.4 percent to 1,183,500 homes, even as new listings fell 7.5 percent, the property search platform reported.
Meanwhile, the number of homes under contract fell 10.5 percent year over year, the greatest decline in nearly three years, as buyers pulled back.
“The market is cooling on both sides, but in different ways,” Danielle Hale, Realtor.com’s chief economist, said in a statement.
“Buyers are stepping back as higher mortgage rates cut into their buying power, while sellers are listing less often without a broad increase in delistings or price cuts.”
The national median asking price fell 2.2 percent to $415,000 in October, its 12th consecutive annual decline, according to Realtor.com.
Price reductions appeared on 20.5 percent of active listings, slightly above the year-earlier share but below September’s level.
