What is a buyer's market and what is a seller's market? A market with more homes for sale than buyers to take them, where prices soften and buyers negotiate; a seller's market is the reverse, and months of supply is the number that tells them apart.
The usual gauge is months of supply: how long the current inventory would take to sell at the current pace of sales. Under about four months is a seller's market, where homes go under contract in days, sell at or above asking and buyers waive contingencies to compete. Over six is a buyer's market, where listings sit, price cuts spread, sellers pay concessions and buyers can insist on inspections and repairs. Four to six is balanced. The thresholds shift a little by metro and by price band, and the luxury tier is often in a different market from the entry level in the same city.
The signs a buyer can see without the statistic: median days on market rising, the share of listings with a price cut rising, inventory growing month over month, and the list-to-sale ratio slipping below 100 percent. Kouzr publishes all four for Las Vegas weekly, so the label can be checked against this week's figures rather than a national headline.
The label describes the average and every home is a negotiation of its own. A correctly priced home in a buyer's market still sells quickly, and an overpriced one in a seller's market still sits.
A worked example
A valley with 6,400 active listings and 1,100 sales a month has about 5.8 months of supply: balanced, leaning toward buyers. If sales slow to 900 a month with the same inventory, supply is 7.1 months and sellers start paying concessions; if inventory falls to 3,500, it is 3.2 months and buyers start waiving inspections.
Which market Las Vegas is in this week
Questions people ask
How do you know if it is a buyer's or seller's market?
Months of supply is the standard: under four is a seller's market, over six a buyer's. Rising days on market, more price cuts and a list-to-sale ratio under 100 percent point the same way without the statistic.
Is it better to buy in a buyer's market?
Prices and competition are lower and contingencies are easier to keep, so yes for the purchase. Whether prices fall further is a separate question nobody can answer in advance, and the carrying cost of waiting is real.