A report from Realtor.com reveals that seller power may diminish after four weeks, leaving a 1.8% premium.
4 weeks. This is a valuable window for home sellers and their agents to either get their asking price or be forced to start reducing prices.
After analyzing home deed records, Multiple Listing Service (MLS) records, and proprietary listing history data, Realtor.com found that homes that closed at or before the 4-week mark sold for 1.8% more than homes that sold in the average number of days on the market (52).
Meanwhile, homes that have been on the market for 18 weeks or more sell for 1.3% less, with a 3 percentage point difference between the best and worst performing properties.
Joel Varner |Credit: Realtor.com
“The pandemic gave sellers a free pass to set prices, but that pass has expired,” Joel Barner, senior economist at Realtor.com, said in a report Thursday. “Today, overpriced homes don’t just sit around; they grow old, lose their impact, and sell for less than they would have if they had been priced in the first place.”
The peak price drop will be in four weeks, two weeks earlier than in spring 2021.
These price reductions are most common in the South and West, but Realtor.com said the region is still in “buyer-friendly territory.” In the Midwest, which is in the midst of a demand boom, the seasonal sales-to-listings ratio is on track to exceed 1 for the second half of this year.
The Northeast is an outlier, the only region in the country where the average listing price still sells above asking price.
“Inventory explains the disparity: Many South and West metros now have more homes for sale than before the pandemic,” the report says. “More choice reduces pressure on buyers, and sales prices reflect that. Supply has not recovered in the Northeast and Midwest, and sellers retain much more of the leverage they have had since 2020.”
Housing type also makes a difference, with condo and townhome owners more likely to reduce prices. As of March 2026, the average condo sold for 97.9% of its final list price, while single-family homes sold for 99.2%.
According to the report, the list price of condominiums has also fallen by 6% since March 2022, while the list price of single-family homes has increased by 7.5%, a difference of 13.5 percentage points.
Berner said Realtor.com’s analysis highlights the importance of choosing the right asking price now that buyers have more inventory to choose from than in years. Home builders are also offering a variety of concessions and incentives to get in the door.
“We’ve gone from a market where sellers could be aggressive and still overprice, to a market where pricing too high has real consequences,” Berner said. “Buyers have more influence than they have in years, and it’s clearly visible in the data.”
“If you price it right, buyers will come. If you price it wrong, you’re going to come after them,” he added. “It’s been four weeks and the market has already made its verdict. Either we have a competing offer or we lower the price.”
Email Marian McPherson
