Is the Dallas Area a Buyer's or Seller's Market in Early 2025?
Spoiler: DFW is currently shifting toward a buyer's market due to significant inventory growth over the past year, among other factors.
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"Is Dallas a buyer's real estate market in 2025?"
This is one of the most common questions among home buyers who are planning to enter the market in the near future. And rightfully so.
By understanding which way the local real estate market leans and who it favors, Dallas home buyers can be better prepared for negotiations.
While there's no standard definition or measurement for a buyer's market, the DFW metroplex seems to be moving in that direction in 2025.
Homes are taking longer to sell, and more sellers have been slashing their list prices. These and other indicators suggest the DFW housing market is shifting in a buyer-friendly direction.
What Is a Buyer's Market Exactly?
In real estate, a buyer's market occurs when the supply of available homes exceeds the demand from buyers. This imbalance gives buyers more negotiating leverage, when it comes to the sale price and other terms.
A buyer's market typically has the following characteristics:
More houses are for sale than buyers looking to buy.
Prices tend to be stable or decreasing.
Buyers have more negotiating power.
Sellers may offer concessions, like help with closing costs.
Homes may stay on the market longer.
Buyers have more time to make decisions.
There's less competition among buyers.
Inventory of available homes is high.
Days on market (DOM) are longer.
In early 2025, the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area real estate market checks nearly all of these boxes. The market has slowed, inventory has grown, and buyers now face less competition.
These buyer-friendly conditions could persist during 2025, especially if inventory levels continue to rise. It bodes well for those who plan to buy a home over the coming months.
DFW Housing Market Starting to Favor Buyers
Higher home prices and mortgage rates have cooled the Dallas-area housing market over the past year. That same trend has affected most cities across the U.S.
Now, as we approach the spring of 2025, home buyers are enjoying the most negotiating leverage they've had for a few years.
Inventory growth has a lot to do with this. Active real estate listings (homes for sale) have increased steadily over the past year, giving buyers more options. This has shifted the overall market dynamic.
In January, the Realtor. com website stated:
"Dallas, TX is a buyer's market in December 2024, which means that the supply of homes is greater than the demand for homes."
The national real estate brokerage Redfin issues a "Compete Score" to show how competitive a housing market is, based on various supply and demand factors. The score range goes from 0 to 100, with 100 being the most competitive.
As of February 2025, the DFW housing market had a "somewhat competitive" score of 50. This means (according to Redfin) that the market is more neutral and doesn't favor buyers or sellers.
But Redfin also stated that the average home in Dallas sells for about 3% below the list price, which shows that many buyers are able to negotiate the price down. That's more indicative of a buyer's market.
Putting labels aside for a moment, it's clear that the DFW real estate market has become a lot friendlier to home buyers over the past couple of years.
Very Few Homes Sell Above the List Price
In a strong seller's market, most homes listed for sale end up selling for more than the original list price. This occurs when multiple home buyers compete for the same property at the same time, while attempting to outbid one another.
In a strong buyer's market, we tend to see the opposite, with almost no homes selling above the list price. The Dallas housing market has been moving in this direction for a couple of years now.
The following graph was generated using data from the national real estate brokerage Redfin. It shows the percentage of homes that sold above the original list price, for the DFW metro area.
A couple of trends will jump out at you right away:
You can see how the percentage of sales above the asking price skyrocketed during the pandemic years of 2020 to 2021. That trend played out in many major U.S. cities.
You'll also notice how the percentage has trended downward since 2022 and is currently close to 10%. This shows how the market has cooled and shifted to favor buyers.
That low percentage on the right (most recent) side of the graph suggests that the Dallas area has, in fact, shifted to more of a buyer's market.
Homes Are Also Taking Longer to Sell
The median time on market (or "days on market") is another useful metric for measuring the competition level within a particular real estate market. It shows how long it takes for a typical home to sell, based on current market conditions.
A low number of days on market indicates a fast-moving market that likely favors sellers.
A high number of days on market reflects a more sluggish market that benefits buyers.
The median days on market for the Dallas metro area has risen steadily since last year.
As of February, homes listed for sale in the DFW market spent a median of 70 days on market before going under contract. That was higher than the national median of 56 days, and higher than a lot of other U.S. metros.
Bottom line: The current pace of home sales in the Dallas area is relatively slow, which explains why so few home buyers are offering above the asking price.
Conditions Can Vary at the Local Level
The relatively high median days on market in Dallas, combined with the comparatively low percentage of homes selling above list price, suggest that Dallas is entering a buyer's market phase in early 2025.
But all of these data points apply to the DFW metroplex as a whole. When we drill down further, from the metro to the city to the neighborhood level, the results are more mixed.
The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex encompasses 11 counties and covers more than 9,000 square miles. Real estate market conditions, such as inventory and sales pace, can vary from one community to the next, even within the same metro area.
Because of these variations, Dallas-area home buyers should conduct additional research into their local markets, before they start house hunting.
5 Things to Take Away From All of This
Here are the five most important points to take away from this report:
Market shift: Increased housing inventory, slower sales, and price reductions indicate a more buyer-friendly market in early 2025.
Less competitive: Fewer homes are selling above the list price, and buyers have more room for negotiation than in the past few years.
Slower sales: The median days on market has risen to 70, signaling reduced competition and slower-moving sales.
Inventory growth: A higher number of active listings means that buyers have greater choices and leverage in negotiations.
Conditions vary: While DFW as a whole leans toward a buyer's market, conditions can differ by city and neighborhood.
If the market continues to move in this direction, or maintains the status quo, Dallas-area home buyers could enjoy favorable conditions for the rest of 2025.