Sellers outnumbered buyers by 58% nationally in August, the largest gap Redfin has recorded, with an estimated 1,534,918 sellers active in the market against roughly 972,300 buyers, the company reported. Nashville led every metro Redfin measured, with 139% more sellers than buyers, the largest local gap in the company’s records dating back to 2013. Redfin published the figures September 10 and updated them September 25.
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A Record Gap Between Sellers And Buyers
Redfin’s August report estimates 1,534,918 sellers were active in the housing market against about 972,300 buyers, a gap the company calculates at 58%, the largest in its records dating back to 2013. Redfin builds the seller estimate from active MLS listings and derives the buyer estimate from proprietary data on the typical time between a first tour and a closed purchase, combined with pending-sales data, and the company notes the seasonally adjusted figures are subject to revision. The gap edged past July’s 52.1% surplus, which had itself been the second-widest on record. Redfin’s records on this specific buyer-versus-seller comparison extend back to 2013, meaning the August reading represents the widest imbalance the company has measured across more than a decade of data, not simply a recent high point.
Nashville’s 139% Leads A List Of Sun Belt Metros
Nashville recorded 139% more sellers than buyers in August, the widest metro-level gap Redfin found and also the largest in that metro’s own records since 2013. Several other Sun Belt metros followed close behind: Miami at 138%, Houston at 131% and Orlando at 122%, according to the same report. Redfin’s own ranking clusters the widest gaps in these Southern metros rather than spreading them evenly across the country, though the report does not say how many of Nashville’s active sellers are relocation-driven or discretionary, information that would help explain why so many owners are listing homes at once even as buyer activity in the metro has slowed.
How Nashville’s Gap Compares To The National Trend
At 139%, Nashville’s seller surplus runs more than double the 58% national figure Redfin reported for the same month, underscoring how much further the imbalance has advanced in some fast-growing metros than in the country as a whole. Austin and San Antonio, two other Texas metros, posted gaps of 115% and 116% respectively, according to Redfin’s report, placing them just behind Nashville, Miami, Houston and Orlando in the company’s ranking. That cluster of Southern and Texas metros occupying the top of Redfin’s list suggests the pullback in buyers is concentrated geographically rather than spread evenly across the national housing market.
What Asad Khan Says The Numbers Mean For Buyers
Asad Khan, senior economist at Redfin, said in the report that “with sellers piling into the market and demand falling flat, today’s house hunters can afford to be choosy.” His comment frames the record gap as a direct source of negotiating leverage for buyers, not simply a statistical imbalance, particularly in the metros where the surplus of sellers over buyers is most extreme. Khan’s comment does not name Nashville specifically, but his description of falling demand nationally is consistent with the especially wide gap Redfin’s data shows there.
How Redfin Builds Its Buyer And Seller Estimates
Redfin’s methodology treats every active MLS listing as a seller and estimates buyers from historical patterns in how long it typically takes a house hunter to move from a first tour to a signed, closed purchase, layered onto current pending-sales activity. Because the figures are seasonally adjusted and revised as more data comes in, the exact 58% national gap and the 139% Nashville figure could shift somewhat in later updates, though Redfin’s own comparison to July’s 52.1% shows the trend has been widening rather than narrowing for at least two consecutive months, a pattern the company has not projected forward into September or beyond. The company also cautions that its estimates are seasonally adjusted, a step meant to strip out the normal summer-to-fall slowdown in activity so that August’s 58% gap reflects an actual shift in the buyer-seller balance rather than the time of year alone.
What A Widening Gap Means For A Seller On A Fixed Income
For an older seller listing a home in Nashville or a similar Sun Belt metro, a 139% surplus of sellers over buyers means competing against far more listings for far fewer serious buyers, a dynamic that typically stretches out the time a home sits on the market and increases the pressure to offer concessions to close a deal. Redfin’s own record-setting national figure, the widest gap the company has measured since it began tracking in 2013, is the clearest sign yet that sellers moving this fall should expect more competition and a longer sales process than in recent years. That holds whether the next move is a downsize within the same metro or a relocation to a different state altogether, since the buyer shortage Redfin describes is concentrated in specific metros rather than spread evenly nationwide.
The Ownership Costs A Seller’s Market Doesn’t Erase
Redfin’s count of sellers outnumbering buyers by 58% describes negotiating leverage, not the tax and utility bills tied to whichever home a seller moves into next. A seller relocating within Nashville or another metro carries a new property-tax bill and new home-cost obligations regardless of how favorable the sale itself turns out to be.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and checked against the primary sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
