An estimated 1.36 million homebuyers were active in the US housing market in January, the lowest count in records dating back to 2013, according to a Redfin report published Monday. The figure excludes April 2020, when the pandemic briefly froze the market, and marks an 8% drop from a year earlier.
Sellers outpaced buyers by 44% — a gap of roughly 600,000 people — the second-widest spread on record behind December 2025. High home prices, mortgage rates above 6%, layoffs, and economic uncertainty pushed buyers to the sidelines, Redfin said. January winter storms likely suppressed activity further.
Sellers retreated too, but more slowly. Active sellers fell 1% month-over-month to an estimated 1.96 million, though that figure still ran 2% above a year ago. The US has registered a buyer’s market — defined by Redfin as sellers outnumbering buyers by more than 10% — every month since May 2024.
The imbalance hit hardest across Sun Belt metros swollen by pandemic-era migration. Miami led all major markets in January with 159% more sellers than buyers, followed by Fort Lauderdale at 128%, Austin at 124%, Nashville at 120%, and San Antonio at 114%. Builders in those cities ramped up supply during the boom; that inventory now sits largely unsold. Florida carries added weight from surging insurance premiums, higher condo fees, and worsening natural disasters.
The Northeast and Midwest diverged sharply. Nassau County, NY, and several New Jersey metro areas remained seller’s markets, where listings are still tight enough to keep sellers in control.
A separate Redfin report from earlier this month found the typical US home spent 64 days on the market in January — the longest stretch in six years — as pending sales fell 3.3% year-over-year. Buyers who remain active hold real negotiating power, with home prices rising just 1% in buyer’s markets versus 5% in seller’s markets. But affordability still locks out a large share of would-be purchasers.
Redfin economists have called the current period the start of a “Great Housing Reset” — a slow, multi-year normalization rather than a sharp correction — and forecast mortgage rates will average 6.3% in 2026, a modest improvement that could pull some sidelined buyers back in.
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