Home Sellers Want More Than What Buyers Can Pay

There is a sizable gap between what home sellers are asking and the prices homebuyers are willing to pay. According to real estate marketing platform Redfin, the $469,729 median asking price is 9% higher than the $431,057 median sale price, the largest recorded gap since 2020. In March, list prices grew 6.2% more than sales prices year-over-year. At the same time, the median sales price increased by 2.5%.

However, in some markets, this gap has grown even wider. In West Palm Beach, Fla., the median list price increased by 9.3% while the median sales price decreased by 0.3% year-over-year. Pittsburgh is seeing a similar gap. There, the list price increased 7.9% faster than the median sales price.

Buyers and sellers are on different pages, which is the crux of the divergence in sale prices and list prices. Sellers continue to demand last year’s record-high prices, but with mortgage rates still so high, buyers have reached their limit and aren’t budging. A lot of homeowners who are selling now also bought during the peak of the market in 2021 and 2022 and are trying to recoup their investments, according to Redfin agents.

“Homebuyers today have the upper hand because they’re outnumbered by sellers, and that’s a tough pill for sellers to swallow,” said Redfin Senior Economist Elijah de la Campa. “When buyers and sellers are on different planets, one side eventually has to give in, and it’s looking like it’s going to be sellers this time. Rising inventory, price drops and seller concessions indicate this is already starting to happen, and sale-price growth will likely continue to slow as a result.” Read more