Sellers Outnumber Buyers by 43 Percent and Here Is How Smart Agents Are Using That Data Right Now

The Data That Changes How Every Agent Should Be Advising Clients This Spring

If your buyers have been feeling like they finally have some leverage in this market they are right and the data backs it up in a meaningful way. Redfin just reported that sellers outnumbered buyers by approximately 43 percent in March. That is nearly the largest gap they have tracked since 2013 and it has direct and immediate implications for how agents should be positioning both buyers and sellers in every conversation they are having right now.

What the Purchase Application Numbers Are Telling Us

Here is the part of the story that makes this moment genuinely compelling for agents who are paying attention. Purchase mortgage applications jumped 10 percent last week and are up 14 percent year over year. Real buyers are showing up ready to move. The demand is there. The leverage for those buyers is there. And the agents who communicate that combination clearly and confidently to their clients are the ones who are going to own this spring market.

The gap between sellers and buyers does not mean demand has evaporated. It means that the buyers who are in the market right now are operating in conditions that give them more negotiating room, more options, and more time than they have had in years. That is a message worth delivering clearly and consistently to every buyer who has been sitting on the sidelines waiting for things to shift in their favor.

How Top Agents Are Coaching Buyers Right Now

As Leonardo Caruso explains the agents who are winning this spring are the ones who are coaching their buyers to negotiate with confidence because the leverage is actually there. Not theoretical leverage based on a general sense that the market has softened. Specific and documented leverage based on data that shows sellers significantly outnumber buyers and that motivated sellers are making concessions to close transactions.

That means coaching buyers to ask for closing cost credits rather than assuming sellers will say no. Coaching them to request seller-funded rate buydowns that reduce their monthly payment meaningfully without requiring the seller to drop the purchase price publicly. Coaching them to include reasonable contingencies without apology because the market conditions support it.

Buyers who understand that the data is on their side negotiate differently than buyers who still feel like they need to compete as if it is 2021. The agent who communicates that reality clearly is the one those buyers trust and refer.

How Top Agents Are Coaching Sellers Right Now

The other side of this equation is equally important and requires an equally direct conversation. Sellers who are still pricing their homes as if it were 2021 are the ones sitting on the market well past the comfortable range and eventually accepting a price reduction that could have been avoided with accurate pricing from day one.

The right coaching for sellers in the current market is to price and present like it is 2019. Competitive pricing based on current comparable sales. Strong presentation that makes the home stand out in a market where buyers have real choices. A realistic understanding that the days of pricing aspirationally and waiting for a bidding war are not the current conditions in most markets.

The sellers who accept that reality and price accordingly are still closing successfully and in many cases quickly. The ones who are resistant to the message are the ones generating the extended days on market numbers and the price reduction statistics that are defining the current environment.

The Communication That Wins This Market

The agents who are going to own this spring market are the ones who can hold both of these conversations clearly and simultaneously. Empowering buyers with the confidence to negotiate because the leverage is genuinely there. Grounding sellers in the reality of current conditions so their pricing strategy reflects the market as it is rather than the market as it was.

That combination of clear and honest communication on both sides is what builds the kind of trust that generates referrals and repeat business long after any single transaction closes.

Leonardo Caruso works with agents and buyers to understand what the current market data means and how to use it effectively in every transaction. Reach out to Leonardo Caruso to talk through how to position your clients for success in the current spring market.

Sources

Redfin.com NAR.realtor MortgageNewsDaily.com HousingWire.com CNBC.com