13 Cities Where Homebuyers Have the Advantage Over Sellers

With limited inventory and mortgage rates hovering above 7 percent, prospective homebuyers continue to face a bleak landscape in much of the country. New data from real estate site Zillow, though, shows more than a dozen bright spots. Its most recent market report highlights 13 metropolitan areas where the scales are tipped in buyers’ favor.

Nationwide, Zillow characterizes the housing market as neutral, with neither buyers nor sellers holding a sizable advantage as of October (the most recent month for which data is available). But that average belies sometimes sharp differences that can emerge at the local level.

Zillow’s analysis cites seasonal factors, such as the annual slowdown that tends to occur in the housing market as winter comes, as well as non-seasonal market influences, like an increase in new home construction.

Pricier mortgages also have pushed some buyers back onto the sidelines. Falling home prices have been offset by mortgage rates that rose in October. Zillow says the mortgage payment on a typical home ticked up nearly 3 percent on a monthly basis; it’s now $1,802.

Buyers are getting more leverage in cities where builders have responded to the inventory crunch—and the promise of higher profits—most aggressively.

A handful of cities, primarily in the Southeast, have offered buyers increased negotiating leverage in recent months as developers have added inventory. Zillow highlights New Orleans, as well as a number of cities in both Florida and Texas, as locations where the availability of more new homes has helped ease conditions for buyers. More broadly, the seasonal winter-weather effect that can chill home sales in much of the U.S. tends to affect Southern markets less.

Zillow says this regional area of opportunity for buyers is spreading. In particular, Pittsburgh and Louisville, Kentucky — two cities decidedly outside the Sunbelt — were added to Zillow’s list of buyer’s markets in October. Pittsburgh is the northernmost city in Zillow’s ranking, taking that crown from Indianapolis, which joined the list of buyers’ markets in September.

13 Best Cities for Homebuyers Now

Zillow’s rankings are based on recent housing market activity, home price appreciation and inventory fluctuations. All 13 are among the top 20 markets where inventory has bounced back most robustly since the pandemic.

Based on these metrics, Zillow has determined that the following 13 cities have a buyer’s market: