Buyer’s Market or Seller’s Market? Around Here, It Depends.

One of the questions I hear a lot right now is pretty simple:

“Is this a buyer’s market now?”

I wish the answer were just as simple.

Because right now, I can show you homes where the seller still has plenty of leverage. I can also show you homes where a buyer may be able to negotiate on price, ask for closing costs, secure a rate buydown, negotiate repairs, or potentially get several of those things at once.

And sometimes those homes aren’t even very far apart.

That’s the current 2026 housing market.

The Market Has Become Much More Balanced

For the past several years, we got used to talking about the housing market in pretty broad terms.

It was a seller’s market.

Inventory was tight. Buyers competed. Homes sold quickly. Sellers could often dictate the terms.

That isn’t nearly as universal today.

Currently, the national housing market is currently sitting at roughly 4.6 months of inventory. Generally speaking, somewhere around six months is considered a balanced market.

But here’s the problem with looking only at a national number:

Nobody buys the national housing market.

You buy a house in Lynnwood, Edmonds, Everett, Shoreline, Bothell, Mountlake Terrace or wherever else you happen to be looking.

And even within those communities, the market can look dramatically different from one house to another.

Sometimes the House Determines Who Has the Upper Hand

This may be one of the biggest changes I’ve noticed in our local market.

We don’t simply have a buyer’s market or a seller’s market.

We have a market where leverage can change based on the individual property.

A well prepared home in a desirable neighborhood, with a functional floor plan and a price that makes sense compared with the competition, can still attract buyers quickly.

That seller may have plenty of leverage.

But another home may sit for several weeks.

Maybe the price is just a little ambitious. Maybe the layout isn’t what most buyers want. Maybe it needs updating. Maybe there are several similar homes competing for the same buyer.

Once that happens, the conversation changes.

Suddenly, the buyer may have the leverage.

Our Local Numbers Are Showing It

Look at just one recent week in our local market.

We had:

210 new listings

175 homes go pending

124 homes close

219 price reductions

That last number jumps out.

There were actually more price reductions than new listings during the week.

That doesn’t mean homes aren’t selling. They clearly are. Nearly 175 buyers and sellers reached an agreement during that same period.

What it does tell us is that buyers have become more selective, and sellers can’t automatically assume the market will accept whatever price they put on a home.

If buyers don’t see the value, many are perfectly willing to wait.

Buyers Haven’t Disappeared. They’ve Gotten Pickier.

I think this is one of the most important things for sellers to understand about today’s market.

There are still buyers out there.

But higher mortgage rates and increased inventory have given many of them something they haven’t had much of over the past several years:

Choices.

When buyers have choices, they compare everything.

Price.

Condition.

Location.

Floor plan.

Updates.

Monthly payment.

How long the home has been on the market.

What else they can buy for the same money.

A house doesn’t necessarily have to be the cheapest option. But buyers need to understand why it’s worth the price.

That makes pricing and preparation especially important right now.

Buyers May Have More Negotiating Power Than They Realize

On the buyer side, this market has created some opportunities we simply didn’t see very often during the crazier years.

A home that has been sitting on the market may have a seller who is much more willing to negotiate.

That doesn’t always mean getting $50,000 knocked off the price.

Sometimes the better negotiation is somewhere else.

A seller credit toward closing costs can help reduce the amount of cash a buyer needs at closing.

A seller funded mortgage rate buydown can potentially make the monthly payment considerably more comfortable.

Repairs may be negotiable.

And sometimes price is absolutely negotiable.

The important thing is understanding the seller’s position before deciding what to ask for.

A home that hit the market yesterday and already has significant activity is a very different negotiation from one that has been available for 47 days and already had a price reduction.

Sellers Still Have Leverage Too

None of this means sellers have lost control of the market.

Good homes are still selling.

And when a property checks the boxes buyers care about and is positioned correctly from day one, sellers can still create competition.

That’s why I wouldn’t tell a seller, “It’s a buyer’s market, so expect to give everything away.”

I’d tell them that today’s buyers are more discerning and the margin for error has gotten smaller.

Overpricing by even a little can cost valuable momentum.

Poor presentation can make the competing house look like the better value.

And waiting several weeks to react to what the market is telling you can sometimes make the eventual adjustment more painful.

So Who Has the Upper Hand?

Right now?

It depends.

It depends on the city.

It depends on the neighborhood.

It depends on the price range.

It depends on the property type.

It depends on the condition.

It depends on the competition.

And increasingly, it depends on how long that particular home has been sitting on the market.

That’s what makes this market so interesting.

Two buyers looking five miles apart may be dealing with completely different negotiating environments. Two sellers in the same city may have completely different experiences.

The days of making broad assumptions about what “the market” is doing aren’t especially useful right now.

The better question is:

What’s happening with the specific home, price range and neighborhood you’re dealing with?

That’s where you’ll find out who really has the upper hand.