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It May Be Time to Make Your Move. Home Prices are Falling in 1 of 4 Markets.

Why This is an Opportunity for Some: A Correction is in Progress in Many Markets. And Florida is Leading the Way.

Why Now? Homeowners who bought an average-priced home in January 2026 are paying $157 less per month and saving nearly $57,000 in mortgage interest over the life of the loan, compared to buyers who purchased a year earlier, according to Forbes.

Where? 68 of the nation's 300 largest housing markets — 23% — had falling prices in the June 2025–June 2026 window. That's down somewhat from 110 markets a year earlier, so the softening trend has stabilized and even reversed slightly in the past year, but nonetheless, don’t get in a bidding war on a house. There will be another one you can get cheaper. There are almost always pockets of affordability in every market.

Why Aren’t You Making Your Move? There are many valid reasons you may be hesitating.

Headline fears from "housing crash" news and every other type of news
Friends that have gotten in over their heads with current interest rates
You have a low rate currently and don’t want to mess it up
You’re single and wonder if you should wait
Job insecurity, rising prices and so on

All of that weighs on us, but we must put our own personal and financial security first. For many people, that includes owning a home, most people’s largest source of wealth. But because it IS such a large purchase, it is meant to be entered into advisedly and not lightly, but with proper preparation and research, like any major life event.

The Unfortunate Truth? I am still seeing sellers (and their real estate agents!) that are dreaming of pandemic-era prices that are a thing of the past. Unfortunately, some of these sellers overpaid when they bought in 2022-ish when prices were already trending down and are now struggling to get what they paid for the home. The problem with this is they may be unable to sell it for a lot less than asking price so you may need to evaluate those carefully and then move on because they are just overpriced (sorry seller, not my problem!).

The softest markets are concentrated in Sun Belt regions and in the Mountain West area, particularly the Gulf Coast from Florida to Texas, and the region which includes Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona and parts of New Mexico where inventory now exceeds pre-pandemic 2019 levels.

Florida markets dominate the biggest declines: Punta Gorda (-7.9%), Cape Coral (-6.1%), North Port (-5.3%), and Naples (-4.4%).

Meanwhile, pockets of the Northeast and Midwest, where inventory remains below pre-pandemic levels, are still seeing modest price growth. I’ll cover specific markets where you should offer less than the seller is asking in a bit.

Existing home sales dropped 3.6% from February to March 2026 and are down 1% annually, according to the National Association of Realtors — with NAR's chief economist attributing it to lower consumer confidence, softer job growth, and inventory remaining tight. When sales drop, smart sellers make concessions. And smart buyers definitely ask for them.

In most of the country, this correction is exactly that — a correction, not a collapse. Experts widely agree this isn't shaping up like 2008. Waiting for a repeat of that scenario means potentially missing the actual window that's open right now.

Buyers that are already prepared to make an offer on a house should view this as an opportunity. Any house that has been on the market more than 90 days and is not under contract must be overpriced. Frame any offer you are considering making on a house like this:

What did the seller pay for the house?
What major improvements, if any, have they made since they purchased it?
How many years has it been since they purchased it?

The math is such that you save much more in your payment on a lower sales price than you do with a lower interest rate. Don’t get me wrong, a low interest rate is powerful, and over a long period of time, will save you a lot. Most people stay in their home an average of only 12 years before selling it though, and that number is actually higher than usual due to people having low interest rates and not wanting to give them up.

But if you have ever used a payment calculator when trying to see how much a car or mortgage might cost you, you saw that small decreases in the interest rate made very small decreases in the payment.

The bottom line is this: Rates have climbed for three straight weeks, hitting 6.66% — the highest level in about a year. It's a good reminder that mortgage rates fluctuate, and trying to perfectly time them is a losing game. The lever you actually control is the price you negotiate. More on that next time.

Written from our unique perspective, keep up with the latest news, trends, and events right here on this page! For more in depth information, exciting developments, and more, explore the rest of the site.

What Is The Latest on Realtor Commissions?

You may have heard there has been a sea change in realtor commissions, due to a big lawsuit in 2023.

For as long as I can remember, the seller of a property has always paid the realtor commissions for both the buyer and the seller. That has changed. The buyer's Realtor will now most likely require the prospective buyer to sign a document before showing any properties.

My plan, should I buy another house, is to sign what's called a "Seven-Day Touring Agreement" and see as many houses as possible in that seven days. If you are giving a Realtor a "try", this is the ticket, because you may decide after two days that this person is not for you. It's the ticket regardless, because you may well have found a house you love in that first seven days. After the seven days, or if you decide you want to make an offer on a house you've seen, you will have to sign a separate agreement with your Realtor, or if you and the Realtor are not clicking, choose another Realtor.

This second document, a "Buyer Representation Agreement" or your Realtor may have one called "Buyer's Agency Agreement", spells out the duties and responsibilities the Realtor has in their business relationship with the buyer. Be sure to read this carefully before you sign it, otherwise you may be in for an unpleasant surprise when you close or settle on your house.

It will basically say that if the seller of the home you buy doesn't agree to pay the commission for your Realtor, you will have to pay it (thousands of dollars!). Further, these contracts are hard to terminate. In most of these contracts, there is not a way to terminate them. Realtors want to make sure they don't miss out on a commission if you buy a home they showed you.

One thing this means is that it is more important than ever to not choose any old Realtor to represent you when purchasing a home. You want one with experience, who is savvy and knows how to save a deal when it's going south (if that's what you want) or get you out of a deal you don't want to go through with. You want one that puts YOUR wants and needs first, not theirs.

A full-time, professional Realtor with a strong track record of satisfied clients is what you need in the competitive home purchase market we are in right now. The purchase of a home costing hundreds of thousands of dollars is no time to give a newbie a chance. Sorry to all the newbies.

Always keep in mind: a Realtor makes more money the higher the sales price. So they have a built-in incentive to want you to pay more for a house, not less. They also want you to buy something, anything, which again goes against what is best for you.

There's another problem: if the contract is an "exclusive" one, even if you buy a house that your Realtor didn't show you, you owe them a commission. Try to at least get a "non-exclusive" contract, which means you only have to pay a commission if you buy a house the Realtor showed you.

While the lawsuit was intended to protect consumers, it has had the unintended consequence of making the home purchase landscape more complicated, and in some cases, more expensive, for home purchasers. However, the purpose of the lawsuit was to show how high fixed Realtor commissions were inflating the price of homes, since a seller had to figure in a 5 - 6% commission for the two realtors when deciding how to price their home. And in my experience, most realtors are not worth what they were getting paid.

You've heard the expression "Buyer Beware"? This is one of those cases. Here's an example of one of these agreements.

Free Buyer Agency Agreement - PDF | Word – eForms