Sellers Ruled for Years. Now Buyers Are Gaining Ground.
Buying a house in 2026? Find where you can get the best deals.
Not long ago, sellers dominated nearly every corner of the U.S. housing market. But as rising mortgage rates cool the frenzied demand for homes, the national market has become increasingly bifurcated. In some areas, sellers still hold all the power. In others, buyers are finally gaining some leverage.
Buyers have more negotiating power today than they’ve had in years, but their influence varies widely from one market to another. To determine where buyers have the most negotiating power, we analyzed market data from the 50 most populous U.S. metros.
We found that buyer-friendly conditions are widespread, but not deepening, in the largest U.S. markets. Here’s where buyers have the best chance of capitalizing on favorable market conditions.
The sale-to-list-price ratio measures how closely homes sell to their asking price. A ratio of 100% means a home sold for its full list price, while a ratio below 100% indicates it sold for less than the asking price.
Most Major U.S. Cities Slightly Favor Buyers
The national housing market may be split between a buyer’s and a seller’s market, but in America’s largest cities, conditions slightly favor buyers.
With elevated mortgage rates cooling demand and slowing sales, buyers have more opportunities to make a deal. The typical home sells below list price in 41 of the top 50 U.S. metros.
Yet sellers still rule in a handful of strongholds, mainly along the coasts, where homes continue to sell above the list price:
- San Francisco, CA
- Hartford, CT
- San Jose, CA
- Boston, MA
- New York, NY
- Milwaukee, WI
- Richmond, VA
- Providence, RI
- Chicago, IL
Although buyer-friendly conditions are more prevalent across the country, they aren’t guaranteed to last. Over the past year, price drop activity has declined in more than half (31) the metros we studied, while the sale-to-list-price ratio has ticked up in more than a third (19).
Buyers who act quickly may find sellers more open to negotiations than those who delay their search.
pp = percentage points
| Rank | Metro | Avg Sale-to-List Ratio | Active Listings With Price Drop | Avg Size of Price Drop | Sale-to-List YoY | Active Price Drop YoY | Months of Supply | Median Days on Market | Median List Price | Median Sale Price |
|---|
Cities Where Buyers Have the Most Negotiating Power
High home prices and elevated mortgage rates make purchasing a home tough, but savvy buyers can leverage the market cooldown to secure better deals.
Increasing inventory in specific metros has caused homes to linger on the market and forced sellers to be more competitive, with many lowering their asking price before buyers even make an offer.
Even then, buyers ready to negotiate are well positioned to find favorable terms, including additional price drops and concessions. The 15 cities where buyers have the most negotiating power are:
- Detroit, MI
- San Antonio, TX
- Austin, TX
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Houston, TX
- Tampa, FL
- Memphis, TN
- Dallas, TX
- Indianapolis, IN
- Philadelphia, PA
- Miami, FL
- Cleveland, OH
- Birmingham, AL
- Orlando, FL
- Jacksonville, FL
Source: Best Interest Financial Cities Where Buyers Have the Most Negotiating Power analysis of Redfin data, 2026.
Why Buyers Have More Negotiating Power
More Homes, More Options: These metros average 4.5 months of supply on average, well above the average of 3.7 months nationally, giving buyers more options and more leverage.
Sellers Cut Prices More Often: In these cities, sellers struggle to attract buyers or sell at their original asking price. On average, 23% of active listings in these cities have had a price reduction, compared to 20% nationally.
Discounts Run Deeper: Sellers in these cities are not only more likely to reduce their price, they’re also more likely to cut it by a larger margin. The average price cut is 4.3% in these cities, compared to 4% nationwide, but some reductions can be as much as 6%.
Cities Where Buyers Have the Least Negotiating Power
The national housing market may be shifting back toward buyers, but some markets remain firmly in sellers’ control. High demand and low inventory in these markets mean sellers are rarely willing to negotiate.
Few active listings are discounted, and the asking price is often just the starting point for negotiations, with many buyers bidding up to secure a home.
The 10 cities where buyers have the least negotiating power are:
- Hartford, CT
- San Francisco, CA
- Chicago, IL
- Milwaukee, WI
- Providence, RI
- Richmond, VA
- Virginia Beach, VA
- Boston, MA
- Fresno, CA
- Washington, DC
Source: Best Interest Financial Cities Where Buyers Have the Most Negotiating Power analysis of Redfin data, 2026.
Why Buyers Have Less Negotiating Power
Supply Is Running Dry: The typical U.S. market has 3.7 months of housing supply, but that drops to 2.4 months in these 10 markets, giving sellers more power to dictate price and terms.
Bidding Wars Push Prices Over Asking: Thanks to limited inventory, bidding wars are more common in these markets. On average, homes sell for 101.2% of the list price, compared to 98.3% nationwide.
Discounts Are Hard to Find: With housing in such short supply, sellers have little incentive to lower their price, and buyers have fewer opportunities to secure a deal. Just 14% of active listings have been discounted on average, compared to 20.2% nationwide.
Regional Spotlight
Rankings by Category
Methodology
Best Interest Financial examined data from Redfin for the 50 largest U.S. metros. Metros were scored based on the average sale-to-list price ratio, percent of active listings with price drops, and the average size of the price drop as a percent of the original value.
About Best Interest Financial
Mortgages are complicated. Choosing a lender shouldn’t be. At Best Interest Financial, borrowers come first, with personalized guidance and tailored mortgage options. Since 2024, hundreds of families have trusted Best Interest Financial to achieve their dream of homeownership. Now an affiliate of Clever Real Estate, a free agent-matching service that’s saved consumers $240 million on Realtor fees since 2017, Best Interest shares a mission to connect people with the best solutions for every step of their real estate journey.
- Homes sell below list price in 41 of the top 50 U.S. metros.
- Buyers have the most negotiating power in Detroit and the least negotiating power in Hartford, Connecticut.
- San Antonio sellers have discounted more listings (28.2%) than any other market in the country, while San Francisco has the fewest (10.2%).
- Home prices don’t drop often in San Francisco, but when they do, it’s by a large margin. The average size of a price reduction in San Francisco is 6.3% — the highest percentage among all cities studied.
- Miami’s sale-to-list-price ratio of 95.42% is the lowest of any metro studied, while San Francisco’s 108.87% is the highest on average.
- The sale-to-list-price ratio in San Francisco has grown 5.19 percentage points from the year before — more than 7x larger than the next-biggest increase of 0.74 points.
- Texas is one of the best buyers markets in the country, with all four of its major metro areas ranking in the top 10.
- Buying power is growing most actively across the Midwest. Eight of the 15 metros with the largest year-over-year increases in price cut activity are in the region.
- The share of active listings with a price reduction dropped in all four of Florida’s major metros year over year, with Jacksonville experiencing the largest decline among all cities studied at 4.5 percentage points.
- Six of the 10 metros where buyers have the least negotiating power are located on the East Coast: Hartford, Providence, Richmond, Virginia Beach, Boston, and Washington, D.C.
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Buyers have the most negotiating power in Detroit, where nearly 1 in 5 homes (19.8%) are listed at a discounted price. Sellers cut prices by an average of 6.2%, which is the second-largest price reduction among all cities studied, behind only San Francisco.
Buyers don’t have a lot of leverage in San Francisco, which is still firmly a seller’s market. Just 10.2% of active listings have been discounted. Yet when listing prices there drop, they do so by a large margin. The average size of a price reduction in San Francisco is 6.3% — the highest percentage among all cities studied.
In an effort to entice buyers, San Antonio sellers have discounted more listings than any other market in the U.S. More than 1 in 4 active listings (28.2%) have had a price reduction.