Agents see more market balance, but some buyers still shut out
Despite market shifts, recent surveys suggest sellers still want top dollar and first-time buyers are sidelined. But agents are hoping for better days ahead.
Key points:
- Agent surveys from Real Brokerage and John Burns align with market trends showing increasing buyer leverage — but sluggish home sales.
- Affordability remains the top issue for buyers, many agents reported.
- Agent optimism was mixed: Real found an uptick in agent outlook, while the John Burns respondents were less enthusiastic, especially those in Sunbelt markets.
As agents work through the seasonal slump in an already-slow real estate market, recent sentiment surveys help illustrate a shifting dynamic: While sellers are losing leverage, leading to more balance, that doesn't mean buyers are willing — or able — to act.
The latest monthly agent survey from John Burns Research and Consulting (JBRC) and Keeping Current Matters illuminates market realities, with 59% of agent respondents reporting weaker-than-normal sales in October. Prices are also down year-over-year in 8 of 10 regions, and sellers outnumbered buyers in 5 of the 10 regions analyzed in the report.
A November agent sentiment survey from Real Brokerage highlighted buyers' increasing leverage nationally while noting regional variances. About 44% of Real agent respondents said their local market favored buyers, but buyer power may have peaked in some areas.
Affordability still the top hurdle — especially for first-time buyers
Both the JBRC/KCM and Real surveys convey a near-universal sentiment among agents that affordability remains the main barrier to homeownership.
In the Burns survey, 57% of agents reported weaker-than-normal entry-level buyer contract activity — the poorest showing of any buyer segment. Over half of agents in nearly every region said first-time buyers are sidelined, even in markets where inventory has risen.
Multiple agent respondents said they'd worked with buyers earning under $80,000 who simply could not find homes that fit their budgets, while others noted that modest declines in mortgage rates have not been enough to restore purchasing power. Despite shifting conditions, many buyers simply don't have a high enough income to afford a home purchase.
Real agents also ranked affordability as the No. 1 hurdle for buyers, ahead of inventory shortages, economic uncertainty or buyer competition.
Many sellers haven't adjusted to falling prices in their markets
Burns data shows clear buyers market conditions across much of the South, particularly in Texas and Florida, where a majority of agents report excess supply. In contrast, the Midwest and Northeast continue to see more buyers than sellers, supported by relatively better affordability and lower inventory.
But even with home prices down in eight out of ten regions and flat national price growth, sellers have been slow to catch up. More than two-thirds of the agents in JBRC's survey said pricing a home correctly was their sellers' biggest challenge, noting that many sellers are still anchored to the peak prices of 2021–2023.
Competition has also dropped off significantly: Only 16% of resale contracts received multiple offers in October, a historically low level, Burns researchers found. And in Real's survey, just 20% of agent respondents said their local market favored sellers.
Agents cautiously optimistic
"While transaction activity has yet to meaningfully rebound, sentiment is holding up, and agents are demonstrating a clear willingness to invest in their businesses to better position themselves for a recovery," Real CEO Tamir Poleg said in the Real Brokerage survey.
Despite slow sales, 57% of Real agent respondents expressed more optimism about where the market is headed compared to the previous month, translating to a "net positive outlook" among the agent ranks for the coming 12 months.
According to John Burns' Resale Housing Market Index, expected sales rose for a third consecutive month, but overall sales expectations for the coming months are still tepid. Nationally, only 34% of agent respondents characterized sales expectations for the next six months as "good" — a drop from 42% during the same period a year ago.
In the Midwest, 40% of agent respondents expect good sales, while in Texas, the Southwest and Southern California, less than 25% of agents anticipate good sales in the next six months.