Realtor.com found buyers had or were gaining negotiating room in 66 of 99 U.S. metros it studied, while Freddie Mac’s 30-year fixed mortgage average stood at 7.40%, limiting what a fixed monthly payment could buy.
The Oct. 19 Market Clock report used housing activity through September. It put 17 metros in buyers’ markets and 49 in balanced conditions shifting toward buyers; 27 were sellers’ markets and six balanced metros were moving toward sellers. The national reading moved to 4 o’clock from 3 o’clock in the previous quarterly report. Realtor.com’s scale runs from peak seller advantage at 12 to peak buyer advantage at 6, and measures negotiating conditions rather than affordability.
Freddie Mac’s weekly figure rose from 6.66% as of Aug. 27 to 7.40% as of Oct. 8, then remained at that level as of Oct. 15. Realtor.com estimated that a $2,000 monthly principal-and-interest budget lost 7.2% of its purchasing power across that rate increase. In the report’s illustration, that translated to more than $22,000 less in home price; the calculation is tied to its example, not a specific buyer’s circumstances.
Regional results differed. Only two of the 18 Midwestern metros fell outside the seller-market category. The South accounted for 14 of the 17 buyers’ markets nationwide. Realtor.com recorded 41 metros changing positions on its clock during the quarter. In its restated year-earlier comparison, seller markets fell from 39 to 27, while buyers’ markets rose from 13 to 17.
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) put September existing-home sales at a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 3.99 million. That was 1.5% above August but 2.2% below September 2025. Inventory stood at 1.60 million homes, 4.6% higher than a year earlier. NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said a wider selection of homes and slower turnover were giving buyers more room to bargain; he said sellers might need to lower prices or offer incentives.
NAR is scheduled to release its September pending-home-sales index Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 10 a.m. ET.
