Housing Market Hands Power to Buyers as Nearly One in Five US Homes Slash Prices

Desperate times call for desperate measures — and buyers couldn’t be happier. Nearly one in five American homes saw price reductions in September, marking the highest share since before the pandemic. According to Realtor.com economist Jake Krimmel, these “price reductions have become one of the clearest signals of change and of movement in a more buyer-friendly direction.”

• Mid-tier properties between $350K and $500K experienced the steepest markdowns at 21.6%, while luxury homes over $1M proved more resilient, with only 13.3% seeing reductions.
• This momentum comes as active inventory surged 17% year-over-year, keeping more than one million homes on the market for five consecutive months.

The homebuyers’ trade-off: President Trump’s new tariffs could stall a housing recovery just as interest rates finally begin to ease. Starting Oct. 14, timber and lumber imports will face a 10% duty, while tariffs on cabinets and vanities will climb from 25% to 50% by Jan. 1. That leaves the housing market caught in a squeeze — cheaper borrowing should spark demand, but higher material costs risk choking new construction. With prices still 36% above 2019 levels, the American Dream of homeownership could slip even further out of reach.