In A More Buyer-Friendly Market, Would-Be Sellers Gain Confidence

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After an extended tough market in which elevated mortgage rates and high home prices seemed to cripple both homebuyers and would-be homesellers, market conditions are finally changing.

An inventory recovery has steadily been gaining momentum across the country, in some places more quickly than others — like the West and South — and it is contributing to softening prices and more options for homebuyers.

Out of the nearly 3,000 consumers surveyed in the latest Inman-Dig Insights consumer survey, conducted July 7-8, 187 respondents said they are active homebuyers who have listed their homes or are planning to do so soon as part of their home search. Of those respondents, 76 percent said they had wanted to move for a while, but only recently felt like the timing was right.

Over the last few years, a narrative about elevated mortgage rates creating a “lock-in effect” has largely been cited as the reason why few potential sellers were moved to list their homes. However, results from the Inman-Dig Insights survey show that consumers believe additional factors prohibited their ability to list, even while they were in the market for a new home themselves.

Now, however, it appears more people who are both buyers and sellers are interested in putting their homes on the market, even though rates have not dropped substantially.

So why is that? The reasons vary by individual and display some regional trends, Intel found.

Why homebuyers are ready to list now

A significant 76 percent of active homebuyer survey respondents said that challenging market conditions had prevented them, until just recently, from listing their home.

• Nearly one-third of those respondents reported factors like intense competition and bidding wars as a major deterrent in the past that had now subsided, making them feel they could put their home on the market.
• Twenty-nine percent of respondents said a wider selection of homes on the market at this time spurred them to list.
• A significant proportion of survey respondents also said that they wanted to list now because they thought their home appreciation had peaked (27 percent), and that personal or professional factors playing into their move became more urgent (27 percent).
• Fewer respondents mentioned factors like waiting for mortgage rates to drop (23 percent) or waiting for their dream home to show up on the market (17 percent) as obstacles to their listing in the past.

National inventory has made substantial gains in recent months, exceeding 1 million homes in May 2025 for the first time since 2019. That boost is certainly providing more comfortable conditions for consumers entering the market, which tracks with Intel’s findings.

Some regional trends

When viewed by region, the latest Inman-Dig consumer survey responses reveal some noteworthy trends that are in alignment with the ongoing national inventory recovery.

In the West and South, where inventory has been recovering at the highest rates, listing clients were more likely in the Inman-Digs survey to cite an inventory-adjacent reason for why they were motivated to list now, compared to respondents based in other parts of the U.S. Consumers from these regions were also more likely to cite fewer bidding wars or potential price decline on the horizon as their reasons for listing now.

• Nearly 1 in 4 clients in the South and West said that their ideal home finally popped up on the market, which is what spurred them to be ready to list.
• Only about 1 in 20 consumer respondents in other regions, by contrast, said their dream home finally came to market, incentivizing them to list.
• In the Northeast and Midwest, where inventory is still slow to recover, consumer respondents were more likely to cite personal or professional reasons for listing their property. Forty-two percent of Northeast respondents said these reasons incentivized them — significantly more than any other region.

As of May, several markets in the South and West, including Denver, Colorado; Austin, Texas; Seattle, Washington; Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas; and San Antonio, Texas; showed significant inventory gains, posting double- and triple-digit inventory growth above pre-pandemic norms, according to Realtor.com data. That movement seems to be making consumers feel less stressed about being active in the market now, Inman-Dig insights consumer data suggests.

Even though consumers potentially may have benefited from listing their home under seller’s market conditions, survey data suggests that this was ultimately not something they were comfortable with, since it meant they also would have to buy a new home and deal with competition for limited listings themselves. Mortgage rates played a role as well — but they were not the only factor keeping would-be sellers on the sidelines.

The good news for agents is, with markets rebalancing, more consumers appear more willing to get back into the market, which means more transactions ahead.

About the Inman-Dig Insights Consumer Survey

The Inman-Dig Insights consumer survey was conducted from July 7 through July 8 to gauge the opinions and behaviors of Americans related to homebuying. 

The survey sampled a diverse group of 2,999 American adults, who ranged in age from 24 to 65 and were employed either full-time or part-time. The participants were selected to produce a broadly representative breakdown by age, gender and region.

Statistical rigor was maintained throughout the study, and the results should be largely representative of attitudes held by U.S. adults with full- or part-time jobs. Both Inman and Dig Insights are majority-owned by Toronto-based Beringer Capital.

Email Lillian Dickerson