U.S. housing market shifts as sellers outnumber buyers in most major cities

Redfin's latest figures reveal that the U.S. housing market now has significantly more sellers than buyers, with the seller surplus reaching 51.3% in July. The pool of prospective homebuyers contracted to a historic low of 967,000, down sharply from previous months. This shift has turned roughly 80% of major metropolitan areas into buyer's markets, where sellers outnumber buyers by more than 10%.

Miami tops the rankings with a 154% seller-to-buyer ratio, followed by Houston, San Antonio and Austin. Redfin defines a balanced market as one where the seller-buyer gap stays under 10%. Data journalist Dana Anderson explains that when sellers are in the majority, buyers typically enjoy stronger bargaining power.