Buying in a Seller’s Market vs. Buyer’s Market: How to Adapt Your Strategy

Understanding the Market Dynamics

The type of real estate market you’re in when it’s time to buy is going to have a significant effect on your strategy, what your offer price is, and whether you ask for seller concessions (and what kind). But first you have to figure out whether the market is tilted in your favor or not.

Days on Market

One of the first things you can do to evaluate whether you’re in a buyer’s market vs. a seller’s market is to look at current inventory and recently sold inventory to see how quickly things are turning over. Check out the days on market (DOM), which is the average number of days a home is listed as “active.” The distance between when something comes on the market, when it has an accepted offer, and when it closes will tell you the speed at which things are moving.

More days on market is going to indicate a buyer’s market, because it means lower interest and lower demand. A low DOM, on the other hand, means sales are hot – that’s going to indicate a seller’s market.

The median days on market is 58 nationwide and 59 in New York state, as of the end of July 2025 according to Realtor.com data from the St. Louis Federal Reserve. That’s already almost twice as long as just three years ago, when DOM was just 30 nationwide. But in New York City, which is where I am, the median DOM in July was something like 78, says Realtor.com, making it much more of a buyer’s market.

Pricing

You’ll also want to look at the prices, both the listing price and the sold price. Are homes going above asking? Are they going below asking? If they're going below asking, how much below asking? Look at all the trends to see if you see a pattern.

Expert Context

If you work with an agent, they can give you more context around what's going on. Looking at sales data only tells part of the story. So if something has gone above asking, you want to investigate why. Was it condition? Was it priced just below market to try to get a bidding war? A lot of that information is not available publicly, so that's where your agent will use their experience, knowledge, and network to get that additional context for you.

Signs You’re in a Buyer’s Market

In a buyer’s market, you may have more choices and can take a little more time to decide on a purchase. Homes will sit longer, days on market goes up, and prices may stabilize or even come down. When you understand what some of these indicators mean, you can start to notice when the market is tipping in a buyer’s favor.

Days on Market Goes Up

For example, say you’re focused on one specific neighborhood, and you start to notice that inventory is sitting longer. That's typically one of the first signs that it’s shifting from a seller's market to a buyer's market. It shows that sellers are having a harder time finding a buyer quickly, which could also mean that buyers have more options and aren’t pressed into making a fast decision.

Pricing Stays Level or Goes Down

Pricing in a buyer’s market obviously won’t be as heated as in a seller’s market, so buyers can leverage that information. See if you can come to an agreement, perhaps shaving a bit off the price or securing concessions, like closing costs.

Signs You’re in a Seller’s Market

In a seller’s market, the opposite is true. Inventory goes fast and pricing moves upward with demand. You’ll start to notice bidding wars springing up — those are a hallmark of seller’s markets.

Homes Sell Quickly

If you see that homes are coming on the market and going very quickly, whereas three or six months prior, they were coming on the market and sitting, you can discern that things have shifted in a seller’s favor. When inventory moves quickly, it shows that sellers have the upper hand; buyers get desperate and move as fast as possible to try to beat out the competition.

Prices Shoot Higher

Similarly with pricing: If homes that were going at asking, or within a tight range of asking, are now being snapped up way over asking, you know you’re entering a seller’s market. You know that you’re not going to have the wiggle room to ask for low pricing and/or crazy concessions, because the seller has people lined up down the block who will pay thousands of dollars to take your place.

Tactics to Thrive as a Buyer in a Buyer’s Market

If you want to succeed in a buyer’s market, just remember, you have the leverage.

Make the Offer. The Seller Might Just Accept

One of the things I always tell my buyers is, when you're interested in something, you should make the offer. Some of my clients sometimes love to make low-ball offers, which is not anybody's favorite … but you never know what answer you might get back.

It might be an absolute “no, this is too low, we’re not countering,” meaning the seller won’t even bother with a counter-offer to meet in the middle. Or, the seller might be willing to work with you. You won’t know until you try.

How This Strategy Worked for My Client

Here’s an example of what I mean. I have this scenario right now where my client, a seller, was horrified by the initial offer that we got. He thought it was way too low. But this offer was all we’d had, and they were very interested. The buyers came on a Sunday morning, and less than 24 hours later, we had an offer. I said, “Sir, it's an offer. I highly encourage you to counter.” In our situation, it was the only offer.

If you’re the buyer, make the offer. You don’t know the seller’s situation. Maybe they’ve had offers but they fell through, and now they’re getting anxious. Maybe yours will be the right offer at the right time. But you won’t know unless you take that step.

Don’t Delay and Have Regrets Later

The last thing you want is to see a property you like but hem and haw long enough that you miss your chance. And then you see that it has gone pending. You're like, “Well, darn, I missed out on that.” Then eventually you see that it closes, and you see the price it closes at. And you may kick yourself because you might say, “You know what, I was willing to pay that, but I didn't even make an offer to try.” So I always recommend my buyers just make the offer.

Assume the Seller May Be Willing to Accept

You also don’t know at what point in the seller’s thinking process your offer is going to come in. There’s seller fatigue; maybe they received an offer when the home first came on the market, and they didn't take it because they thought they would get a substantially better offer. Then time goes by and they haven't gotten a substantially better offer. So yours might be the manna of the gods to them at that point, whereas six months prior, they might not have chosen to engage with you. You really have nothing to lose by trying,

Move On if the Seller Doesn’t Accept

If you’re a buyer and the seller is dragging their feet during a buyer’s market, or even a neutral market, then it may be time to move on to something else.

Navigating a Seller’s Market as a Buyer

It’s a different situation for buyers when they’re in a seller’s market. You’re going to need to adjust your attitude a little bit while still keeping the big picture in mind.

Don’t Max Out Your Budget

I say this to my clients a lot: Find out what your pre-approval is and make sure you’re not maxing out your budget. That in itself is a win.

Here’s why I say this. There are stages of your property ownership journey. No one is going to go from not owning to “I'm buying my forever place.” News flash — it's okay to buy something that works for a specific range of your life, and as things evolve, you can adjust accordingly. You can buy the starter house. It doesn’t have to be perfect, and it doesn’t have to be your forever home right now. It can be your first move, not your only move.

Buy for Your Life As It Is Now

I have this conversation a lot with my clients. One client told me, “Well, I really like this place. It’s someplace I could live with a significant other.” And I said, “Well, are you seeing someone? Does that person exist in your world right now?” Nope. She wasn't even dating.

That one still blows my mind, because surprise, she did not, in fact, buy.

I think there's often a challenge wrapping your head around what your budget is and what it can actually buy. The apartment she was looking at was beautiful. It was fully renovated. And she liked it, but she was so worried it won't be big enough for another person. She's not even dating, right? She wasn't even on the road to a serious relationship. She could have bought it and had the perfect home for her life as it is now, but she got hung up on what could happen in the future.

Compromise on Non-Essentials

This is a little bit of a side rant, but I believe people need to focus on what really works for them, and not be swayed by what they think it should be based on what they see on television or on social media.

For example, it's okay to buy a home with non-stainless steel appliances. There's nothing wrong with non-stainless steel appliances. They work. Eventually, when the stove or the dishwasher or the refrigerator stops working, and you need to replace it, you can replace it with whatever you want. It's that simple. Buyers get fixated on color, too. You can paint! Host a painting party. You can paint it yourself. You could have it painted. These are things that you can change over time, and it might be perfectly livable for the time being.

People should look at where they're planning to live through that lens, and less through the lens of what they think things are supposed to be. This also keeps you from buying more house than you can afford, if we want to bring it back the budget issue.

Never Skip an Inspection

I don't know where or why this trend became a trend, but you do not need to skip the inspection to be competitive.

Do the inspection, even if you are not going to make your offer subject to any contingencies or issues that will arise from the results of the inspection. An inspection is like a report card. It gives you a framework for knowing what you will have to do, or may have to do, or when you might have to do it. Why wouldn't you want that information? At least you’ll know what work will need to be done and the basic timeline. I can't imagine buying a house and not doing an inspection. I work in a market — New York City — that is mostly co-ops and condos and townhouses, and most of my clients will still do inspections.

One of the phrases we often use is, “My client wants to do the inspection for informational purposes only,” especially if it's a scenario where it's highly competitive. Most of the time, my clients are not going to change their negotiations, but they just want to know what they don't know.

Find the Seller’s Motivation

This is often where an agent comes in really useful. We can ask the seller’s agent what athe client is most motivated by.

• Price

• Timing

• Quick closing

• Delayed closing

Then we can take that information and work it into the offer.

Suppose the seller needs two weeks after the closing to get their belongings moved to their new place. And let's say my clients are super flexible. They could plus or minus two weeks or a month. That may make them more attractive than a higher offer. Because who wants to move three times? You’re finding a way to make it easier on the seller, and that’s going to help your offer stand out.

Economic & Macro Factors Shaping Market Tone

One of the largest challenges with this market is the interest rates. Where they are now – hovering around 6.5%-7% depending on your borrower profile – compared to where they were two, three, four years ago is tough for people to wrap their heads around. But for some of us who are of a particular age, we’ve seen rates much higher than they are now. We understand that there is a cyclical nature to real estate markets.

Although higher rates and increased inventory tend to tilt things toward a buyer’s market, it really depends on where you’re located. It can be tough going in one area and things can still be selling like crazy in another. In that case, why not think outside the box?

I have several clients who live in New York, they love New York, they rent in New York – but they still want to own property. So they buy an investment property elsewhere. They’re not living in it, but they’re still benefiting from the rates and the property values there. They don’t always have to purchase their primary residence.

I always encourage my clients to think creatively about what they want to achieve and the different ways they can get there. It’s something that I think is more and more important.

Property ownership has lots of different layers, and you have to do what’s best for you, in the moment you’re in.