For Most Realtors That I Talked To, We’re All Like … Where Have All The Buyers Gone?

A report from Discover Lafayette in Louisiana. “Real estate expert Bill Bacque of Market Scope Consulting, whose career has spanned over 53 years in the housing industry, joins Discover Lafayette to discuss real estate trends. Bill dug into what he called the ‘Covid years,’ pointing out the extraordinary surge in home sales from 2018 to 2021. But as quickly as the boom came, it corrected. From 2021 to 2024, Lafayette experienced a 34% drop in sales. ‘We literally gave it all back,’ Bill said. Bill also addressed the shortage of available homes, particularly in affordable price points. ‘There are currently 69 homes listed at $1 million or more in Lafayette Parish. But only 12 have sold so far this year. At that rate, we have a 28- to 29-month supply.'”

The Bradenton Herald in Florida. “Home prices continue to fall in Manatee and Sarasota counties, according to the latest housing market report. In Manatee County, there were 786 single-family homes sold in May. That is a 1.9% decrease year-over-year. The median sale price also declined. Compared to May 2024, prices fell 8.9% to $478,195. There were 265 townhomes and condos sold last month, but at a median sale price of $313,000. That marked a 13.4% decrease compared to the preceding May. In Sarasota County, single-family home sales fell 7.3%, with 788 homes sold compared to 850 year-over-year. The median sale price plummeted 12.3% to $465,000. There were 342 townhouses and condos sold, which represents a 19.1% decline compared to May 2024. The median sale price dropped 12.8% to $321,020. The monthly supply increased to 9.2 months, a 46% increase year-over-year.”

The Flathead Beacon. “Experts in the Flathead Valley say that northwest Montana is starting to thaw as inventory expands. ‘We are thawing,’ said Wendy Brown of PureWest Real Estate in Kalispell. ‘People think things are frozen and they drag their feet, but if you don’t buy it, someone else will. We are seeing price reductions for properties that were aggressive about their asking price at the beginning. If people are pricing them appropriately, they aren’t sitting long but we are seeing price drops when they are too high.’ In Flathead County, the median sales price was $630,000 in May of this year, down only slightly from its peak of $690,000 in June of 2022. The combination of expensive home prices and high mortgage rates has kept some buyers at bay compared to the pandemic-era boom. ‘People have houses for sale, but there’s just not as many buyers,’ said Northwest Montana Association of Realtors spokesperson Erica Wirtala. ‘It’s more of a buyer’s market.’ The City of Kalispell in recent years has approved numerous developments that are starting to come online, which Wirtala says will add to the Flathead’s inventory. ‘There’s still a bit of inventory coming on in the next year or two, which might play into the market and bring down some prices,’ Wirtala said.”

The Texas Standard. “As the Wall Street Journal’s Veronica Dagher reports, some Texas cities are on the national short list of places where negative equity is at its worst. Texas Standard: It seems like a lot of towns were becoming boomtowns during and after the pandemic, but then everything went upside down. Veronica Dagher: It’s starting to. This is the beginning. Hopefully it’s not going to go too far down. But people who bought during the peak of the market are increasingly finding they owe more on their mortgages than their properties are worth. And you might be seeing this in places like San Antonio or Austin that were so popular during the pandemic. But it’s not just Texas and Florida. We’re seeing people, you know, Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Virginia Beach, Virginia. We’re seein’ that pop up in other parts of the country. Several places in Utah are also seeing this.”

“But is there a way out for folks who are upside-down on their mortgages, or are they just going to have to grin and bear it, sit it out, hope that prices will go back up? If you do need to move – maybe you got divorced or you got transferred or your job is in a different state now – then you may be in a situation where you’re selling an underwater property, which basically means when you go to the closing and sell, you’re going to have to make up the difference between what the property is worth and what you owe. You’re going essentially have to bring cash to the closing table: $10,000, $15,000, maybe more, depending on how much you owe, and that hurts.”

The East Valley Tribune in Arizona. “The median and average price of homes sold in Gilbert last month far exceeded the Valley-wide average median price of $485,000. And the inventory of 992 homes in Gilbert marked an 85% year-over-year increase. Pending sales in Gilbert plummeted year over year by 43.4% to 151, according to the association’s data. Phoenix Realtors also said, ‘The number of new listings has some calling this a ‘buyer’s market.’ New listings climbed to a year-to-date total of almost 42,000 homes. It’s also made buyers more demanding according to The Cromford Report. ‘Some buyers are now flexing their negotiation muscles by asking for remodeling instead of repairs,’ it said. ‘In most cases, these do not show up in concessions because the costs of the remodel are included in the agreed sales price.'”

“‘If you only have one interested buyer and are highly motivated to sell, it can be hard to resist agreeing to such requests,’ the Cromford Report said. ‘If the cost is to be added to the sale price, then you could argue that it costs the seller nothing, as long as the deal goes through. For the buyer, these requests are a way to finance their remodel without having to blow through their cash,’ it continued. ‘This activity also keeps the recorded sales price elevated as long as the appraisal comes in.’ Sellers who agree to such demands ‘increase the apparent strength of sales prices,’ the Cromford Report said. That doesn’t mean the trend will go on forever where percentage of asking price is concerned, the Cromford Report warned. ‘The practice is eventually limited by appraisals and appraisers are increasingly noting in reports that home prices are in a declining trend,’ it said.”

From Redfin. “Nearly 6% of today’s U.S. home sellers are at risk of selling for less than their purchase price, up from 4.4% a year ago, but still well below pre-pandemic levels. But in San Francisco, nearly 20% of sellers are at risk. More than a third (35.6%) of for-sale San Francisco condos are at risk of selling at a loss. That’s more than ten percentage points higher than the next two major metros on the list: Portland (24.8%) and Oakland (23.2%). The story also differs by home type; condos are much more likely to be at risk of selling at a loss than single-family homes or townhouses. Redfin agents in some parts of the country report that some sellers who don’t need to move immediately have already opted to de-list their home. ‘A lot of sellers are taking their home off the market rather than reducing their price, with the idea of listing it again next year,’ said Aditi Jain, a Redfin Premier agent in Boston. ‘They’re not motivated by making money the way they would have been two or three years ago because there’s not as much money to make. Another trend with sellers: They’re accepting offers instantly. If they get one solid offer, they’re signing the contract, canceling other tours and open houses, and trying to close the deal as soon as possible.'”

“More than one in four (28.7%) for-sale condos bought after the pandemic surge are at risk of selling at a loss, the highest share among the different home types. ‘We are seeing the biggest price drops in the condo market,’ said Denver Redfin Premier agent Andy Potarf. ‘I had a seller who bought a condo for $570,000 in 2021 and it just sold for $525,000 last week. Sellers who have to sell are willing to take a bigger hit to get the deal done.’ Potarf added that condo sellers are in a particularly tough position because many face restrictions—from HOAs or local authorities—on how they can lease their properties. ‘A lot of condo sellers have a choice to make: stay put, or take a loss,’ he said.”

From Summit Daily. “Popular real estate sites like Zillow and Redfin are booming with listings for users in Colorado — but will buyers show up? ‘The number of homes we have right now on the market is definitely up — I mean, way up compared to what we’ve seen in the last couple of years,’ said Dana Cottrell, a Realtor with Summit Resort Group. ‘It’s not a Summit County-specific thing that’s happening. The increase of listings is happening all over the place. What I’m seeing is, days on the market are a little bit longer, more seller concessions, more price drops. Every day when I see the new listings, at least half of them are price drops.’ There were 1,119 active residential listings across Summit County this May — roughly 68% more than the 763 listings in May of last year, Cottrell said.”

“‘I would say I’m seeing at least half of the new listings peppered with price reductions,’ she said. ‘I just lowered the price $250,000 on a house, and it generated one showing. That’s not exciting when you see something like that. That tells you there’s not many buyers out there. For most Realtors that I talked to, we’re all like … ‘Where have all the buyers gone?’ So the buyers I’m working with are just being very discerning on how aggressively the place is priced, and the condition, and what their criteria are. So now they’re sitting back a little bit going, ‘Okay, buyers really aren’t showing up. We’re in the driver’s seat now. We don’t have to make a decision yesterday in order to get a house up there.'”

The Vancouver Sun. “Conservative MP Scot Davidson was enjoying himself in the House of Commons this month at the expense of federal Housing Minister Gregor Robertson, former mayor of Vancouver. ‘After telling Canadians he didn’t want home prices to go down, we now learn the Liberal housing minister, Gregor Robertson, holds a $10-million real estate empire. Canadians struggling to afford a home have every reason not to trust the Liberals on housing,’ Davidson said. ‘The Liberal housing minister says he doesn’t want house prices to go down. While every day Canadians are priced out of a home. He says he’s focused on protecting people’s assets. Well now we know why!’ Davidson told Parliament. ‘From his Vancouver penthouse, this minister is sitting atop a personal real estate empire worth over $10 million, including luxury properties in Tofino and Squamish and on English Bay. Why is it the only thing getting built under this housing minister is his personal fortune?'”

“The real estate market’s fixation on appealing to well-off investors, domestic and foreign, is a big factor behind stratospheric prices. It’s also led to the construction of many small, poorly designed units in towers, which some call ‘dog crates in the sky.’ The price inflation caused in part by masses of investors is one reason that the CHMC has declared it will no longer try to get Canadian housing back to the affordability ratios of 2004. Instead, it’s going to aim for the levels of 2019. Alas, while that might be more realistic, 2019 is also when Demographia reported that Vancouver had the second most unaffordable housing out of about 120 cities, behind only Hong Kong. Toronto was almost as bad.”

CBC News in Canada. “After years of soaring prices and new builds, Metro Vancouver’s condo market is showing signs of strain with projects stalling, sales declining, and developers hitting pause. ‘[We] are at a breaking point, the industry is doing terribly,’ said Anne McMullin, CEO of the Urban Development Institute. ‘It’s not just that the industry is struggling; it’s our inability to deliver homes that people can afford.’ Just five years ago, mortgage rates were near historic lows, making it relatively affordable for buyers to borrow large sums and invest in real estate. But those rates have climbed significantly, pushing up monthly mortgage payments. The result is higher ‘carrying costs’ — the total expense of owning a condo, including mortgage payments, property taxes and maintenance fees.”

“‘It costs more to build a unit or a home than the average person in the Lower Mainland can afford,’ said McMullin. ‘When it’s costing more to build … we see project cancellations and we start to see projects not going ahead.’ At the same time, condo and rental price growth has stagnated, which means homeowners can no longer count on steady price growth to absorb the costs. According to the latest housing market update from the B.C. Real Estate Association, residential prices in the province in May 2025 were down 4.2 per cent at $959,058 compared to the same time last year, while residential sales were down 13.5 per cent. In Vancouver, average asking rents for a two-bedroom fell from $3,440 in 2024 to $3,170 in 2025, according to the latest figures from Statistics Canada.”