A Record 70% of Markets Favor Buyers or Are Trending That Way as Sellers Price More Realistically and Pending Sales Rise Year over Year for a Seventh Straight Month

AUSTIN, Texas, July 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Realtor.com^® Market Clock^® tool now spans the 100 largest U.S. metros, double its original coverage, and the expanded view confirms what monthly data have hinted at all season: this is the most buyer-friendly spring since since 2018, even as the national reading holds steady at a balanced, buyer-trending 3 o'clock. A full 70% of markets favor buyers right now or are trending in that direction, up from 52% last year. Outright buyers markets hold their largest spring share (19%) since 2019 and 50 of the top 100 markets are balanced but trending in buyers' favor.

The Market Clock^® tool distills local housing conditions into a single position on a 12-hour clockface from 12 o'clock (peak seller's market) to 6 o'clock (peak buyer's market), so buyers, sellers and market watchers can see at a glance who holds the leverage in a given metro, and which way it's moving.

This quarter the Realtor.com^® Market Clock^® places the national housing market at 3 o'clock, a "Balanced-Loosening" phase, heading toward buyer-friendly conditions, though not necessarily approaching them quickly. But a single national aggregate masks substantial variation below. Beneath it, local markets occupy nine of the twelve positions on the clockface, some still favoring sellers but a growing number favoring buyers.

"A national number can only tell you so much," said Jake Krimmel, senior economist, Realtor.com^®. "What the Market Clock^® shows this quarter is a country moving toward buyers, but at very different speeds depending on where you live. Doubling our coverage to 100 metros lets us show that fragmentation and broad-based buyer-friendly momentum in a way a single headline number never could."

Variation Is the Story — And It's Regional

Of the top 100 metros, 25 remain seller's markets, 50 sit in balanced-loosening territory (buyer-trending), 19 are outright buyer's markets, and 5 are balanced-tightening (seller-trending). That spread across nine of the clock's twelve positions is the most even distribution Realtor.com^® has recorded since spring 2020. No quadrant holds more than half of all metros, and every quadrant holds at least a handful.

The divide tracks geography almost perfectly. The South accounts for 18 of the 19 buyer's markets; the Northeast holds all 5 balanced-tightening markets; the Midwest still claims half of the seller's quadrant; and the West is overwhelmingly balanced-loosening as it trends towards buyers. When it comes to outliers, Hartford, Connecticut, is the lone metro left at 12 o'clock, the clock's peak-seller position.

"Two-thirds of Midwestern metros are still tilted toward sellers, and not one has crossed into buyer's territory," said Krimmel. "Meanwhile, a buyer shopping in the South is working with nearly the opposite market and it's the clearest regional split we've measured."

The Most Buyer-Friendly Spring on Record

Buyer's markets now make up 19% of the top 100, their largest second-quarter share since 2019, a stark reversal from 2022, when 96% of metros were seller's markets. Seller's markets, by contrast, have shrunk to 25% of metros. Fully 70% of markets now favor buyers or are trending in that direction. That's because over the past year, movement along the Market Clock^® tool has been almost entirely one-directional: 36 metros loosened toward buyers while only 4 tightened, a 9 to 1 ratio. Of the 24 metros that changed their level of balance since last year, 23 moved in buyers' direction.

Twenty-one metros loosened a full two hours on the clock over the past year — Augusta, Bakersfield, Charlotte, Cleveland, Greenville, Nashville, Portland (Maine), Providence, San Antonio and Syracuse among them. Colorado Springs moved further still, traveling from a balanced 3 o'clock to 7 o'clock — the far side of the buyer's quadrant, past the 6 o'clock peak-buyer position — in just twelve months. Oxnard, Calif., logged the biggest move of any metro, swinging five hours from 10 o'clock to 3 o'clock as it crossed the top of the clock from tightening territory, through seller's, and out onto the loosening side.

Biggest Movers of the Quarter

Six metros moved two full hours toward buyers since Q1 2026: Cape Coral, Fla. (5→7), Cleveland (1→3), North Port, Fla. (5→7), Portland, Maine (1→3), Providence, R.I. (1→3) and Syracuse, N.Y. (2→4). Three moved two hours the other way: Bridgeport, Conn. (10→8), El Paso, Texas (4→2) and Fresno, Calif. (4→2). Every other metro moved one hour or less. Notably, the two Florida moves from 5 to 7 o'clock carry those markets past peak-buyer conditions rather than deeper into them.

Biggest Movers Since Q1 2026

Every other metro moved one hour or less since Q1.

Sellers Are Playing Ball

Buyer leverage only matters if sellers respond to it and this quarter, they are. In 60 of the top 100 metros, listing prices per square foot fell year over year, the most widespread spring price softening the Market Clock^® has recorded, up from 46 metros a year ago and just 3 metros in 2022. Nationally, the median list price is down roughly 2.5% from a year ago.

That pricing realism shows up most clearly where buyers already hold the leverage: in outright buyer's markets, the typical metro's listing price per square foot is down 2.5% year over year, and while price cuts remain elevated at roughly one in five listings, cut shares are falling — a sign sellers are pricing right from the start rather than correcting later. The pattern is sharpest in the South and West, where a majority of metros (57% and 55%, respectively) show both falling prices and falling cut shares, and faintest in the Midwest and Northeast, where prices per square foot are still inching upward.

"Pricing realism is what buyer leverage looks like in action," said Krimmel. "Sellers in the South and West are getting the message and pricing accordingly, and it's paying off — pending sales have now risen for seven straight months, which is the most active spring market we've seen in four years."

What to Watch This Summer

The Market Clock^® momentum readings point to a short watch list heading into the back half of the year. Memphis – along with San Antonio and Houston, among nine late-balanced metros – is on the cusp of crossing into buyer's territory. Also, a large and geographically diverse cluster of late-seller's markets at 1 is worth watching for the next wave of crossovers into balanced territory. The Gulf Coast's deepest buyer's markets, including Cape Coral and North Port in Florida, have begun ticking back from peak looseness — still firmly buyer-friendly, but past their trough — and whether they resume loosening or keep tightening will help shape the national buyer's share heading into the third quarter. Finally, the greater New York region — including Poughkeepsie, Albany and Bridgeport — remains the only corner of the country where sellers are regaining leverage.

Market Clock^® Readings - 2026Q2

Methodology

This quarter's readings reflect a refined Market Clock^® methodology; historical readings shown here have been restated for consistency, so some past values may differ slightly from those published in the Q1 2026 report. Quarterly readings use April 2026, the latest month with complete transaction records at publication. Rochester, N.Y., is excluded this quarter due to a county-level data outage; tables cover 99 metros plus the national reading. The Realtor.com® Market Clock^® tool is built on Realtor.com® housing market data and analysis of deed records, synthesizing measures of market balance, pace and momentum, and pricing pressure into a single clock position for each metro. Data are updated monthly and the report is released quarterly.

About Realtor.com^®

For over 30 years, Realtor.com^® has connected buyers, sellers, and renters with trusted insights, professional guidance and powerful tools to help them find their perfect home. Recognized as the No. 1 real estate site REALTOR® agents recommend, Realtor.com^® delivers consumer connections and a robust suite of marketing tools to support business growth. Realtor.com^® is operated by News Corp [Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc.

Media Contact: Mallory Micetich, [email protected]

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SOURCE Realtor.com