What a Stalled Housing Market Means for Sellers Facing Price Cuts

Selling a home in the United States has become a slow, expensive exercise. Sellers are lowering their asking prices and contributing thousands of dollars toward buyers' costs, while many who can afford to wait are pulling their listings off the market, according to ABC News.

The shift is a sharp reversal from earlier this decade, when sellers often received well above their asking price. Real estate agents say those who cannot simply withdraw their homes now face growing pressure to cut prices and sweeten deals.

What it means for people trying to sell

Sellers currently outnumber buyers, which forces an uncomfortable choice: cut the price and offer concessions more aggressively, or hold out longer and delay major life plans such as relocating for a job or moving to a bigger or smaller home.

Mark Fleming, chief economist at First American Financial, said the balance has moved back toward a buyers' market. In his words, that can mean reducing the price, offering a concession and accepting that a home may stay on the market longer.

The experiences ABC News describes show what that looks like in practice:

• Murphy, Texas: Liz Suder first listed her house in April 2025 for $750,000. After several price cuts and no sale, she pulled it six months later. She relisted it in February for $725,000, and a buyer recently agreed to pay $650,000. She also put in $9,000 toward repairs.
• Blaine, Washington: Rick Ganga listed his house on June 1 for $825,000 because a divorce requires a sale. He lowered the price to just under $800,000 but says there have been no offers and almost no traffic. Having owned the home only since 2022, he says he lacks the equity to cut further, and he expects the house may sit until spring or summer.
• Troutdale, Oregon: Ethan Butner has an accepted offer on a new home but first needs to sell his current one, listed for $480,000. It has been on the market more than two months, and he has had little luck so far.

The numbers behind the slowdown

Mortgage rates are a major factor. After briefly dipping below 6% in February, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage climbed as high as 7.4% this month, its highest level in nearly three years, according to the report. The article also points to years of rising home prices and an economic outlook clouded by high inflation.

Realtor.com data show the national median listing price fell 1.2% in September from a year earlier, to $419,250. That was the 11th straight month of annual declines. About 21% of September listings had their initial price lowered, a four-year high.

Redfin found about 63% more sellers than buyers across the 50 largest U.S. metropolitan areas last month. The number of buyers, roughly 929,000, was the lowest on record dating back to 2013, while the number of sellers reached its highest level since 2020.

What it means for buyers

For shoppers, the shift brings more leverage. Jake Krimmel, a senior economist at Realtor.com, said buyers are gaining ground at the expense of sellers, who are doing more to meet them halfway. Requests for help with closing costs are not unusual, and higher rates are also giving buyers room to ask sellers to pay to buy down the mortgage rate, either for a few years or for the life of the loan. That can reduce overall borrowing costs.

Still, ABC News reports that this may not be enough to overcome the affordability hurdles keeping many would-be buyers out of the market. Some are delaying purchases and hoping for better conditions, perhaps in the spring.

For sellers who must sell, the result is a longer wait and a lower final price than they once expected. As Suder put it, she never expected the process to take a full year or to cut the price by so much.

Around Prague, based on reporting by ABC News