"In 2025, it was a game of chicken," says one agent. "This year, the game is over."
After a year of high interest rates and slow sales, home sellers are finally facing the music this summer—and getting real about home prices.
According to the Realtor.com® economics team, last year was a "Cruel Summer," marked by excess inventory, flagging sales, and a general sense that buyers and sellers couldn't connect on expectations.
Now, a year later, rather than resist the cooling market, sellers have begun adjusting expectations and lowering their initial asking prices.
In July, the median listing price was down 2.4% year over year. What's more, fewer than 40% of the active listings saw a price cut, compared to 54% of listings in July 2025—signaling that sellers have begun to price homes more competitively from the start.
“Last year, sellers were still pricing for the market they remembered, not the one buyers were actually facing,” says Realtor.com senior economist Jake Krimmel. “This summer, they’ve been more realistic from day one—and more willing to adjust when necessary."
The share of active inventory considered "on sale" or price-reduced fell across all 50 of the largest metropolitan areas between July 2025 and July 2026.
When price cuts are necessary, sellers are making their first reduction three to four days sooner than last year—on average 34 days in, rather than 38 days on—with reductions averaging at least one percentage point smaller across all regions.
"That is good news for buyers, who are seeing lower asking prices and more room to negotiate, but it is also good news for sellers: Pricing to today’s demand is helping homes move and keeping more transactions alive in a high-rate environment,” says Krimmel.
Because sellers are meeting buyers closer to market reality, the "quit rate"—the number of sellers delisting their homes in frustration—has gone down. In June and July 2026, national delistings came in 8.3% and 4.7% below 2025 levels, respectively, though some metros saw increases, including San Jose, CA; Dallas; and Miami.
This past May through July saw the highest number of home contract signings since 2022. Overall, home sales are still around 9% below pre-pandemic levels, but contract signings are up about 2% year over year and up 4% since 2023. The progress has been slow, steady, and consistent across all regions.
Greg Field, a solar home real estate agent with Home Smart in Tempe, AZ, says he's seen a sea change this past year.
"In 2025, there was a game of chicken," he says. "Sellers kept being stubborn, holding onto the phantom equity of pandemic profits, waiting for the bids to come—and they never came. This year, the game is over."
The market continues to course correct
You could call it the Great Rebalancing. Last year, sellers stubbornly held on to the idea that they could set prices at the same levels they had when interest rates were at 3%.
But with interest rates consistently over 6%, they've had to face facts.
"As we sit today, sellers are more realistic," says Scott Payne, executive vice president and managing broker with Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty. "The clearest evidence isn’t what they say; it’s the narrowing gap between list price and sold price we’ve seen this summer. When that spread tightens, it means sellers are starting closer to where the market actually is instead of testing a number and working their way back down."
Jessica Wu is the principal broker at JW Real Estate Services in Boston.
"In the Greater Boston area, I am seeing more sellers enter the market this year, while buyer activity overall feels slower. Open houses are still happening, but turnout is thin," she says.
Wu says she's working with more sellers these days than in previous years. "I used to work with more buyers than sellers, and this year that's reversed, which is a sign of rising inventory and more competition among sellers. I'd characterize current seller behavior as pragmatic, divided, and patient: Sellers who need to sell are adapting to what buyers are actually willing to pay, and sellers who don't are standing their ground."
Rather than resist the cooling market, sellers have begun adjusting expectations and lowering their initial asking prices (stock image) (Getty Images) How sellers can make the most of the market
Sellers looking to stand out in the market should get real about what the current market will bear, says Field.
"Concessions that would offend a seller two years ago are becoming a standard part of the deal," he says.
Listing 10% over comparable homes used to be the standard practice in some competitive market, but not anymore.
"Trying to list this way will make your listing sit for 60 days. Sellers are getting real and are approaching the strike price from day one," he says.
Rachel Kilmer, a real estate agent with ReeceNichols in Kansas City, MO, says smart sellers are actually slightly underpricing the market.
"They are the ones that are winning and actually making more money, which seems counterintuitive. But if you price yourself just below all of your peers in your neighborhood, your house is going to be the one that sells first and is the most marketable," she says. "So you're going to get a nice strong list price offer while all your neighbors are the ones that are letting the days on market add up and increasing the likelihood of them having to come down on their price.”
She says many sellers are "unrealistic" about how much leverage they have.
"I've seen sellers turning down contracts that are slightly below list price that have been on the market for 60 days or more. And if those are my sellers and I'm representing them, I'm educating them on the data that shows the longer you're on the market, the less likely you are to get full price. So, by them turning down a viable, slightly below-list-price offer, the greatest likelihood is that they're actually costing themselves money by trying to hold out for something better most of the time. And I think that's more true now than it has been in a long time."
"Strategy is mattering more than price, and a successful one is either starting at the right price based on comps, or baking in a price drop to help buyers feel like they're getting a deal," says Mitch Coluzzi, head of construction at property investment company SoldFast. "In fact, starting too high can leave sellers with a perception problem that even a price drop won't resolve."
Field advises sellers to think about how they can meaningfully improve a buyer's bottom line, such as offering a mortgage rate buydown—though buyers should weigh the pros and cons of such a move.
"Decreasing the price by $20,000 does not lower the monthly payment of the buyer much. But paying $10,000 towards 2-1 rate buydown will lower it substantially," says Field.
No matter the strategy employed, Payne cautions that sellers should focus on pricing their properties right the first time.
"Aspirational pricing is a very expensive strategy," he says. "By the time you get to the real market price, you’ve spent the attention that comes with being new to the market, and you rarely get it back."