74% of Agents Say Buyers Are Gaining Leverage Right Now

The Q3 2026 Zoodealio-ResiClub Real Estate Agent Survey just dropped, and the results tell a clear story: the housing market is tilting toward buyers in most of the country. Among 208 real estate agents and brokers surveyed between August 17 and September 29, 2026, 74% say negotiating leverage is shifting toward homebuyers in their local market.

That number alone tells you where things stand. But the details underneath it paint a fuller picture of what's happening on the ground, region by region, and where the market might be headed over the next 12 months.

Buyer Demand Is Cooling Across the Board

Nationally, 63% of agents report lower homebuyer demand compared to 12 months ago. The pullback is sharpest in the Midwest, where 74% of agents see lower demand, and the Southwest, where 66% report a decline and zero agents reported demand picking up.

That softening in demand is translating directly into leverage. The survey found that 74% of agents say power is shifting toward buyers, with the Southwest leading at 89%, followed by the Southeast at 78% and the West at 74%. The Northeast is the outlier: only 50% of agents there report a buyer shift, with the other 50% saying leverage hasn't moved at all.

Sellers Are Feeling the Pressure

As buyers pull back, seller urgency is climbing. Nationally, 49% of agents say seller urgency is higher than it was a year ago, led by the Midwest (60%), the Southwest (55%), and the Southeast (48%). Fewer sellers appear willing to wait for conditions to improve.

The Northeast again stands apart. Half of agents there say seller urgency is about the same as a year ago, and half say leverage isn't shifting in either direction. The Northeast resale market has been more stable, likely because its heavy reliance on resale transactions has insulated it from some of the new-construction dynamics affecting other regions.

Price Expectations Are Getting More Cautious

Only 30% of agents surveyed expect home prices in their local market to increase over the next 12 months, down from 39% in Q4 2025. Meanwhile, 30% now expect slight declines (up from 22%), and 33% expect prices to stay flat. Just 1% of agents anticipate price increases of 5% or more.

For homeowners, this signals that sitting on a property waiting for a big price jump may not pay off. The agents working deals every day are saying the era of automatic appreciation is over in most markets, at least for now.

Rate Expectations Have Shifted Higher

Mortgage rate expectations have moved up meaningfully since the last survey. At the end of 2025, most agents were expecting rates to settle in the low-6% range. By Q3 2026, the largest share of agents expect the average 30-year fixed rate to land in the upper-6% range over the next 12 months, with far more now expecting rates above 7.0%.

The share of agents expecting sub-6% rates has nearly vanished: just 1% in Q3 2026 compared to 22% in Q4 2025. The optimism around rate relief has largely evaporated, and agents are pricing that reality into how they advise clients.

Agent Confidence Is Fading

Only 48% of agents describe their business outlook for the next 12 months as optimistic, down from 60% in Q4 2025. Agents in the Southeast remain the most optimistic at 62%, while pessimism is highest in the Northeast, where 50% describe their outlook as pessimistic.

The regional split makes sense. Southeast agents operate in larger new-construction markets that haven't contracted as sharply as resale volumes over the past four years. Northeast agents rely far more on resale transactions, and they've been hit hardest by resale turnover hovering near 40-year lows.

Commissions Are Holding, But Agents Aren't Happy with NAR

Despite ongoing industry upheaval following the 2024 NAR settlement, compensation structures remain largely unchanged. 88% of sell-side deals and 84% of buy-side deals still use fixed-percentage commissions, mostly in the 2% to 3% range.

Meanwhile, sentiment toward NAR remains weak: 59% of agents hold an unfavorable view (31% somewhat unfavorable, 28% very unfavorable), while only 9% express a favorable opinion. The settlement changed the headlines, but the agents in the trenches are still largely operating the same way.

Cash Offers and iBuyers Are Still Under the Radar

About 4% of agents say they've discussed iBuyer or cash-offer options with clients "very often" in the past year, with another 18% doing so occasionally. The Southeast leads the conversation, where 32% of agents have discussed these options at least occasionally. In the Northeast, 83% of agents say they've never discussed them.

That gap represents a massive opportunity. As seller urgency rises and traditional sales slow down, cash-offer programs give agents a concrete alternative to present to clients who need certainty and speed. The agents who are already having these conversations are better positioned to win listings in a softening market.

What to Do Next

For homeowners and sellers:

• Pricing strategy matters more than it has in years. With nearly a third of agents expecting slight price declines, overpricing a listing and waiting is a losing strategy right now.
• Explore all your options before listing. Cash-offer programs, structured deals, and flexible closing timelines can get a home sold faster without leaving money on the table.
• Know your equity position. Understanding exactly where your home stands financially is the foundation of every good selling decision.

For buyers:

• Leverage is on your side in most markets. 74% of agents confirm that. Use it to negotiate on price, closing costs, or terms.
• Rates may not come down soon. The agents working deals every day expect the upper-6% range or higher for the next year. Waiting for a rate miracle is not a strategy.
• Target homes with longer days on market. Those sellers are the most motivated to make a deal work.

Source: Zoodealio-ResiClub Real Estate Agent Survey Q3 2026. Survey of 208 U.S. real estate agents/brokers, fielded August 17 to September 29, 2026. Cover image: AI-generated.

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