Real Estate News
There were 46.3% more homesellers than buyers in the U.S. housing market in February, according to Redfin data — the largest gap since at least 2013.
Many parts of the country will experience a very strong buyers market this spring — but whether homebuyers can afford to participate is an open question.
A new report from Redfin estimates the U.S. housing market had nearly 630,000 more sellers than buyers in February. That equates to 46.3% more sellers than buyers — the largest gap since Redfin began tracking this data in 2013 and a big jump from the same time last year, when the market had 29.8% more sellers than buyers.
While February is usually a time when sellers are ahead of the curve getting ready for the spring homebuying season, Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather said this trend is different.
“Because this data is seasonally adjusted, the record gap tells us this isn’t just a seasonal pattern — it reflects a deeper pullback in buyer demand driven by high costs and economic uncertainty,” Fairweather said.
Market has nearly 2 million sellers: The South has the strongest buyers markets — particularly in Texas and Florida — while the strongest sellers markets are in the Northeast, according to Redfin researchers.
The report estimates there were 1.36 million homebuyers across the country in February, down 2.4% compared to January. The number of sellers was 1.99 million, down 0.4% month-over-month, and the number of relistings has begun to climb, which could boost housing supply.
These market conditions typically indicate that buyers have more leverage for price negotiations. But in recent years, many sellers — some of whom have ultra-low mortgage rates that they scored during the Covid-19 pandemic — have chosen to pull their homes off the market instead of negotiating with prospective buyers. Since sellers tend to also be buyers, the overall result is less sales activity.
Big changes in recent years: The shift toward a buyers market has been a fairly quick one, as Redfin data indicates buyers outnumbered sellers by more than 30% just four years ago. The pivot has occurred as 30-year mortgage rates increased from around 3% to more than 7% in early 2025.
There’s also “a lot more inventory on the market compared to the past two years,” according to Justin Gomez, a Redfin Premier real estate agent in Omaha, Nebraska. This is because “the mortgage rate lock-in effect is easing and there’s a lot of new construction,” he said in a news release accompanying the report.
Spring predictions remain muddy: What’s unclear is whether prospective buyers will be looking for homes this spring. The year began with some positive signs for buyers as home prices remained relatively flat, staying below inflation and wage growth. While this is marginally improving affordability, the market is still far from the pre-pandemic days before home prices spiked.
But the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has increased significantly in recent days following months of steady declines. Last week, daily rates climbed above 6.5% for the first time in over six months, though they did dip back below that level on March 23, according to Mortgage News Daily.