The U.S. real estate market is about to see a shift in the coming months, according to an industry expert.
Shopping for a home can be challenging, but looking for one in a real estate market that’s more favorable to buyers can help ease that pain.
Realtor.com reported Monday that a handful of cities stood out in May as being the most “buyer-friendly,” offering ample inventory and plenty of homes with reduced prices.
Cities in seven different states, all in the South or West, made up the ten metro areas that host housing markets most favorable for buyers, per the report.
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According to Realtor.com, these are five of the ten most “buyer-friendly” areas:
Phoenix, Arizona
In an aerial view, the downtown skyline is seen during a heat wave on Jul. 15, 2023, in Phoenix, Arizona. Weather forecasts today are expecting temperatures to reach 115 degrees. The Phoenix area is grappling with record-breaking temperatures as prol (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Phoenix, where over 1.67 million people live, is the capital of the Grand Canyon State. Of the properties that the market had up for sale in May, 31.3% carried a reduction in price, a percentage higher than any of the other cities in the top-10, per Realtor.com. The number of active listings in Phoenix posted a 23.1% year-over-year jump last month.
Tampa, Florida
Aerial drone view of sprawling Tampa Bay Skyline, Florida. (Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Homes in Tampa took 60 days to sell and sought a median price of $417,500. Roughly 29.9% of its listings in May had experienced a price cut, the real estate marketplace reported.
Denver, Colorado
Aerial view of the Denver skyline and state capitol dome at sunset. (Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The active listing count for Denver notched the biggest year-over-year jump in May, with Realtor.com pegging it at 63.9%. Meanwhile, the proportion of up-for-sale homes that have undergone price cuts came in at 29.4%.
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Austin, Texas
In an aerial view, the downtown skyline is seen on April 11, 2023 in Austin, Texas. The city of Austin has been ranked as the top destination of U.S. job markets for the second consecutive year, according to data collected by The Wall Street Journal. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Homebuyers in Austin saw the median home ask $525,000 in May, according to the report. Realtor.com found 29.1% of homes on the market had a discount. It serves as the capital of Texas, a state that has seen an influx of people in recent years.
Jacksonville, Florida
A view of the downtown Jacksonville, Florida skyline. (iStock)
In May, the northeastern Florida city of Jackson posted a 31.2% increase in active listings from a year ago, per Realtor.com. Roughly 28.8% of homes in the area featured a price reduction. The median $405,000 that homes on the market sought in May was only beat by one other city included in Realtor.com’s top-10.
The other metro areas in the top-10 included Charleston, South Carolina; Salt Lake City, Utah; Dallas, Texas; Palm Bay, Florida; and Portland, Oregon, according to Realtor.com.
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Nationwide, the U.S. had over 1 million homes on the market in May, a level that the U.S. hadn’t climbed above since the winter of 2019, a separate report released earlier in the month by the real estate marketplace found.
Prices had been reduced on 19.1% of homes up for sale across the country last month, according to Realtor.com.
U.S. home sellers sought a median price of $440,000 in May, marking a 2% increase from the prior month and a 0.1% lift from a year ago.
