WASHINGTON — Home sellers outnumbered home buyers by 62.6 percent nationwide in September, according to Redfin, the real estate brokerage, which said the gap was the widest in its records, which begin in 2013. The gap grew from 56.9 percent in August. Redfin estimated 1,510,784 sellers and 928,892 buyers in the market last month.
The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate reached 7.40 percent this week, according to Freddie Mac, the highest weekly average since late 2023. The rate was unchanged from the previous week.
“Sellers outnumber buyers because a lot of people are selling. That is what a market looks like when it is working,” said Corey Lindqvist, 44, a licensed real estate agent in Garnet Ridge, Ind. “Everybody wants to sell, so somebody has to be buying.”
Lindqvist said the arithmetic supports his view. He said 1,510,784 sellers minus 928,892 buyers leaves 581,892 sellers with nobody to sell to, which he described as “a bonus for the buyers.” He said any seller still waiting has been buying a house from himself in the meantime, “which is what being in the market means.”
Dr. Marjorie Teller, director of the Center for Measured Outcomes, said the estimates were precise to the household but that further study is needed. “The sellers counted are the sellers who listed,” Teller said. “The buyers counted are the buyers who looked. The Center has applied for a grant to determine whether the two groups have ever met.”
“The market is the market,” Lindqvist said. “If a house is priced too high, it sits there, and the seller learns something about himself.”
Asked how many homes he had sold this year, Lindqvist said the number was “a private matter between me and the market.” He said he had a listing in Garnet Ridge that had been on the market for 11 months. He described it as a good house with a patient owner.
Teller said the Center would need further study to determine whether 7.40 percent affected buyers, sellers, or the people who sell houses to themselves. Lindqvist said he expected the buyer for his listing to arrive at any time, probably from somewhere in the 581,892.