There is no single national answer, and anyone who gives you one is selling a headline. The textbook definition runs on months of supply: roughly six months or more of inventory tilts toward buyers, under six tilts toward sellers. That number splits sharply by metro, by price point, and even by neighborhood. The same city can be a buyer's market above a certain price and a seller's market below it, because entry-level homes usually draw the deepest demand while the top of the market carries more supply than buyers. So ask about the market for your specific price band, in your neighborhood, this season. A correctly priced starter home in a supply-starved area can still pull multiple offers while a luxury listing a few miles away sits for months without a price cut. Days on market, sale-to-list ratios, and the count of comparable active listings tell you where the leverage sits. That is also why one price reduction or a single concession defines nothing. Pull recent comparable sales for the same bed and bath count in that specific neighborhood, and read the local data with an agent who works that turf every week rather than leaning on a textbook label. Our own listings and buyer deals in the same county routinely go opposite directions in the same month, which is exactly the point.