Fresh fears of a housing market crash have emerged after seven of the 50 largest US metro areas became official buyer’s markets.
Summer ended in a stand-off between reluctant buyers and stubborn sellers. Homes are lingering on the market longer, new houses are selling for less than older ones, and mortgage rates are decreasing daily.
In other words, it’s a great time to be a buyer, according to Realtor.com’s August 2025 Monthly Housing Market Trends report..
A buyer’s market emerges when there are more homes available for sale than there are buyers. This situation gives buyers leverage: they can negotiate lower prices, seek concessions, and take their time choosing the right property.
Conversely, a seller’s market has more buyers than available homes, resulting in houses selling quickly—often above the asking price—and less negotiating power for buyers.
Nationally, the housing market reached a balance of a five-month supply this summer—for the first time since Realtor.com began tracking the data nine years ago.
That figure is significant because it represents roughly even ground between buyers and sellers.
Low supply, two to three months, favors sellers, while high supply, of six months or more, favors buyers.
Miami, pictured above, topped the list of metro areas currently experiencing a buyer’s market, with a 9.7 months’ supply. This means it would take nearly 10 months to sell all of the city’s listings at the current pace.
Miami’s median home price in June was $510,00 — down 4.7 percent from the same time last year (pictured: a neighborhood in Miami)
The months of supply metric indicates how long it would take to sell all homes currently on the market if no new listings were added, assuming sales continue at the current rate.
To determine the months of supply, economists used the most recently available June sales data.
While a five-month supply reported nationally suggests that the market is balanced between both buyers and sellers, focusing in on the country’s largest metro areas tells a different story.
Of the top 50 US metros, seven had at least six months of supply in June, placing them in the buyer’s market category.
Miami, FL, was at the top of the list — with a 9.7 months’ supply, meaning it would take almost 10 months to sell all of the city’s listings at the current pace.
In June, the median price of a home in Miami was $510,00 — down 4.7 percent from the same time last year.
Meanwhile, the city’s inventory surged 35 percent compared with the same period in 2024, and the average home waited for a buyer 15 days longer than last year.
Austin, TX, was second in the rankings, with 7.7 months’ supply. The Texan city became a pandemic boomtown, but buyer demand has since softened.
Austin, Texas, was second in the rankings, with 7.7 months’ supply. The Texan city became a pandemic boomtown, but buyer demand has since softened (pictured: Austin’s cityscape)
New York City was another major metro that has transitioned into a buyer’s market – with a 6.7 months’ supply
Orlando, another sunny Southern metro, came in third place with a 6.9 months’ supply (pictured: Orlando’s Disney World park)
In June, the median list price was $525,950, and by August, the typical house in Austin was priced at just under $500,000 — down 4.8 percent from a year ago.
Another sunny Southern metro came in third — Orlando, with a 6.9 months’ supply.
In June, the city — which famously houses Disney World — saw a median listing price of $429,473, a 3.4 percent decrease. Orlando has been a buyer’s market since January.
‘The markets in Miami, Austin, and Orlando have been moving in a buyer-friendly direction for some time now,’ said Realtor.com senior economist Jake Krimmel.
‘Inventory levels, time on market, and price reductions are all up significantly in those metros, as well as much of the South and West.’
Next in the rankings were New York City (6.7 months’ supply), Jacksonville (6.3 months’ supply), Tampa (6.3 months’ supply), and Riverside (6.1 months’ supply).
While a buyer’s market is obviously great news for buyers, it can be an ominous sign for the economy as a whole.
A buyer’s market can be an early warning sign of a cooling market, or even a housing market crash, because it usually indicates other economic struggles — such as affordability crises, high interest rates and weak consumer confidence.
The 2008 financial crash started with a buyer’s market, but was fueled by the subprime mortgage collapse (when lenders gave loans to borrowers with poor credit or unstable incomes), foreclosures, and job losses.
