As most housing markets continue to improve across the U.S., the relative position of buyers and sellers continues to vary considerably by geography. In some markets, buyers are finding themselves in strong bargaining positions relative to sellers. In other markets, it’s the sellers that are selling their homes within days, often after multiple offers. The Zillow Buyer-Seller Index combines sale-to-list price ratio, the percent of homes that have been subject to a price cut, and the time-on-market (measured as days on Zillow). For more details on the construction of the index, see our prior posts here and here.

Nationally, buyers’ markets tend to be located on the West Coast, and sellers’ markets are in the Midwest and along the East Coast.  The table below shows the top buyers’ and sellers’ markets in the 35 largest metro areas.