US housing market moves closer to balance, CNBC agent survey shows

More U.S. real estate agents now describe the housing market as balanced between buyers and sellers, according to CNBC’s second-quarter Housing Market Survey. The shift comes as reported price cuts on active listings fell to 57% of surveyed agents from 89% in the third quarter of 2025, suggesting sellers are adjusting asking prices earlier in the process.

CNBC said 44% of agents surveyed in the second quarter saw balanced conditions, up from 30% when the quarterly survey began in the third quarter of last year. The share describing a seller’s market fell to 25% from 49% over that period, while the share seeing a buyer’s market rose to 31% from 21%.

The survey is a national poll of randomly selected real estate agents across the United States. CNBC said 53 agents responded between June 23 and June 30.

The change reflects a housing market that remains constrained by financing costs but is less one-sided than during the pandemic-era boom. A balanced market generally means neither side has clear pricing power: buyers have more choice and room to negotiate, while sellers can still transact if they price homes in line with local demand.

Jeremy Kane, an agent with EXP Realty in Denver, told CNBC that leverage now depends more on the specific property, neighborhood, condition and price bracket. “Both the buyer and the seller do have a little bit of leverage,” he said.

Existing-home sales in May were 3% higher than a year earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors, helped by increased supply and softer prices. National home values have not broadly fallen, however. The S&P Cotality Case-Shiller national home price index showed prices up just under 1% from a year earlier.

Asking prices tell a more flexible story. Realtor.com said June asking prices were down 2.5% from a year earlier, the largest annual decline since the company began tracking the measure in 2017 and the eighth consecutive month of declines. Lower initial asking prices can reduce the need for later markdowns, which helps explain the drop in agents reporting price cuts.

Bruce Jones, a Compass agent in Nashville, Tennessee, told CNBC that sellers are showing less resistance on pricing than in the recent past. “If it’s priced correctly, it is moving,” he said.

CNBC’s survey also pointed to fewer failed deals. Forty percent of agents said they had at least one contract fall through in the second quarter, down from 51% in the first quarter. Contract cancellations can occur when buyers and sellers cannot agree after inspections, appraisals or financing developments, and fewer cancellations suggest expectations are becoming less stretched.

Mortgage rates are now the top concern cited by agents for buyers. CNBC said 37% of respondents listed rates as buyers’ biggest concern in the second quarter, up from 26% at the end of last year. Prices ranked second at 29%, followed by the economy at 21% and inventory at 14%.

Mortgage News Daily data cited by CNBC showed the average 30-year fixed rate fell to 5.99% at the end of February before rising in early March after the war in Iran began. The rate last peaked at 6.75% on May 19 and has since stayed near 6.6%.

Supply has improved but remains limited by historical standards. Realtor.com said June inventory was up just under 2% from a year earlier and new listings rose 2.4%. The company counted 1.1 million homes for sale, compared with about 614,000 at the same point in 2023, shortly after the pandemic-driven housing surge.

Agents are less confident that sales will accelerate soon. CNBC said 19% of respondents expected sales to improve in the near future, down from 48% in the third quarter of 2025, while 67% expected sales to remain about the same.

Joel Eronko of Nicholas Joel Realty Group in Houston told CNBC that local conditions remain central for clients. “The challenge isn’t a lack of buyers, it’s a psychology gap,” he said.

This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.