02/24/2026
Home Price Cuts Are Growing as Buyers Gain More Negotiating Power
February 24, 2026
Mortgages & Home Financing, Residential Real Estate, Working With Buyers
By: Melissa Dittmann Tracey
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Are lower prices mixed with lower rates the winning combo? More builders and sellers are hoping a lower price will boost sales.
© Feverpitched / iStock / Getty Images Plus
Home buyers are gaining more negotiating leverage—and many are zeroing in on the price of listings. They’re increasingly finding discounts, too.
As home sales remain sluggish this winter, more sellers are reducing their asking prices. In the new-home market, homebuilders are leaning heavily on price cuts and incentives—more than at any point in recent years—in trying to bring more buyers to the closing table.
In February, 36% of builders reported cutting prices, with the average price reduction at 6%, according to the National Association of Home Builders. Another 65% offered incentives such as closing cost assistance, mortgage rate buydowns or design upgrades.
Some builders are layering incentives. For example, builders like Highland Homespdf are offering up to 50% off design upgrades—up to $100,000—plus up to $10,000 toward closing costs on its select homes through March. David Weekley Homespdf has advertised mortgage rates as low as 4.99% on move-in homes financed through its preferred partner.
The new-home market’s growing concessions are putting pressure on sellers of existing homes to stay competitive. Nationally, about 18% of existing-home listings had a discount as of late 2025. What’s more, nearly 11% of active listings, as of January, had at least three price cuts, according to a new analysis from realtor.com® of homes listed at its site. In Austin, Texas, 22% of listings had multiple price cuts—double the national trend.
The Pressure to ‘Price It Right’ Is On
By the end of 2025, price reductions were becoming more common in some markets. "Your home is worth what someone else is willing to pay … but sometimes that doesn’t line up with what sellers think,” says Kourtney Pulitzer, a real estate pro with Sotheby’s International Realty in Palm Beach, Fla. “It’s caused some sellers to overprice.”
That’s a costly mistake, she recently told Real Estate Today, because pricing high with the hope of leaving room to negotiate usually “leaves you without anyone to negotiate with. If you’re not priced realistically, buyers assume you’re not being realistic—and they won’t even make an offer.”
Sellers who price unrealistically, especially those who have already bought another home or need to move quickly, may find themselves chasing the market down instead of positioning ahead of it.
Markets With the Most Price Cuts
This winter, some sellers are finding they’re having to reduce their asking price multiple times. Realtor.com® found the highest percentage of active listings with at least three price cuts, as of January at its site, were in:
1. Austin, Texas: 22.2%
2. San Antonio, Texas: 22%
3. Tampa, Fla.: 20.8%
4. Indianapolis: 18.4%
5. Jacksonville, Fla.: 17.8%
6. Dallas: 17.2%
7. Orlando, Fla.: 16.9%
8. Portland, Ore.: 16.6%
9. Phoenix: 16.5%
10. Denver: 15.9%
Realtor.com® also found that nearly one in five new homes—19.3%—sold at a discount as of late 2025. But some states were seeing even more elevated levels of new construction price reductions, including:
• Nevada: 24.8%
• Indiana: 23.3%
• South Carolina: 21.6%
• Minnesota: 21.6%
• North Carolina: 21.3%
Should Sellers Be Worried?
While price cuts are increasing, most homeowners are still sitting on significant equity gains over the past several years.
Since January 2020, the typical homeowner has accumulated $130,500 in housing wealth, according to National Association of REALTORS® research.
Austin, Texas, for example, has one of the highest shares of listings with price cuts in the country. But the average homeowner in that city has gained roughly $170,000 in housing wealth over the past five years, according to NAR’s Metro Market Dashboard. Austin also has one of the highest months’ supply levels among the 50 largest metros—second only to Miami—meaning sellers are facing more competition and may need to price more strategically.
Some sellers, rather than reducing their asking price this winter, are opting to temporarily delist their home and wait for the spring market, recent studies show.
Nationally, home values remain elevated. The median existing-home sales price reached $398,800 last month—an all-time high for the month of January, NAR recently reported. Also, about three quarters of U.S. metro areas posted year-over-year price gains in the final quarter of 2025. However, the association’s research shows the share of appreciating markets has narrowed, signaling moderation rather than a broad decline.
For buyers, “affordability conditions are improving,” says Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. NAR’s Housing Affordability Index shows housing is at its most affordable level since March 2022, largely because wage growth has outpaced home price gains and mortgage rates are at the lowest level in three years.
Also, the housing market has not been showing signs of distress. NAR’s research shows that foreclosures and short sales remain at historical lows, accounting for just 2% of January sales, down from 3% a year earlier.
Melissa Dittmann Tracey
Melissa Dittmann Tracey is a contributing editor for REALTOR® Magazine and editor of the Styled, Staged & Sold blog.
• Content by Melissa Dittmann Tracey
