A new Bankrate analysis lays out just how fractured the U.S. housing market has become, and where unexpected openings for buyers now lie.
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Markets that were red-hot during the pandemic have cooled significantly, while others remain as competitive as ever. The result: There’s no single national housing story right now, just hundreds of local ones, according to Bankrate’s analysis.
Check out the table below to see the U.S. metros where homebuyers have gained the most leverage since 2022, as well as the metros where conditions swung the other way toward sellers, and then read on for more analysis from Bankrate’s report.
Bankrate Housing Analyst Jeff Ostrowski said the housing market has shifted dramatically over the past four years, “at least in some parts of the country.”
“The formerly hot Sun Belt markets have cooled, while the Northeast and Midwest have stayed hot,” Ostrowski said. “The big driver here is construction activity. The softest markets now [have] experienced big booms that spurred new building, and that has led to a large supply of new and existing homes on the market in those places.”
Most pandemic boomtowns have loosened up
Bankrate’s Buyer Opportunity Index scores 100 U.S. metro areas on a scale of 0 to 100 based on housing market conditions, including inventory levels, price reductions, days on market, and sale-to-list price ratios. The 2022-to-2026 shift shown above measures how much each market’s score has changed over that period, with positive numbers indicating markets that have moved in buyers’ favor and negative numbers indicating markets where sellers have gained ground.
The clearest pattern in the data is that the metros that swung hardest toward buyers are concentrated in the Sun Belt and Mountain West, the same markets that saw some of the most aggressive price appreciation during the pandemic.
Colorado Springs, Colorado; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Austin, Texas, lead the list, all posting shifts above +60. Denver, Dallas, Salt Lake City and several Florida metros follow close behind. In these markets, the pandemic-era frenzy has cooled substantially, leaving buyers with more inventory, more negotiating room, and less competition than they’ve had in years.
The opposite is true across much of the Midwest and Northeast, where conditions have shifted toward sellers.
New York City (-77), Poughkeepsie, New York (-75), and Albany, New York (-74) sit at the far end of the scale, followed by Milwaukee (-68), Chicago (-65), and several Ohio and Pennsylvania metros.
These markets largely missed the pandemic boom, and without an overheated run-up to correct, they never snapped back. Constrained inventory and steady demand have quietly handed sellers the advantage, in many cases.
What the rankings actually measure
It’s worth noting that the rankings don’t show which markets are “best” for buyers and sellers. Instead, it shows how conditions have shifted in either buyer’s or seller’s favor since 2022.
For example, Raleigh was identified by Bankrate as one of the top markets where buyers have gained the most negotiating power since the pandemic. However, most analysts see it as a more balanced market, but still a soft seller’s market.
Redfin terms the Raleigh housing market as somewhat competitive. According to Redfin data, in March 2026, Raleigh home prices were down 1.4 percent from last year, with a median price of $420,000. On average, homes in Raleigh sell after 43 days on the market, up from 31 days last year. There were 419 homes sold in March in Raleigh this year, down from 452 last year.
Colorado Springs, Colorado, may offer the clearest example of a shift in buyers’ favor. Bankrate’s report puts it as the top market to shift toward buyers since the pandemic. Colorado Springs saw its housing supply quadruple between February 2022 and February 2026. That surge in inventory significantly reduced sellers’ negotiating power.
“Homes now sit unsold for an average of 54 days in Colorado Springs, nearly 11 times as long as they did four years ago,” Bankrate’s report says. “And 25 percent of the area’s home listings have cut their asking price at least once, up from 8 percent four years ago.”
For homebuyers, the takeaway is that market conditions vary enormously depending on where you’re shopping. A buyer in Austin or Raleigh is working in a fundamentally different environment than one in Philadelphia or Cleveland, with more listings to choose from, more room to negotiate on price, and less pressure to waive contingencies.
ZIP code has never mattered more for buyers and sellers
The pandemic briefly flattened the playing field nationwide, but that uniformity is gone, according to Bankrate. Where you’re buying or selling now matters more than ever.
In still-competitive markets, buyers shouldn’t expect much relief. Bankrate analysts recommend that buyers move fast, come in strong, and don’t assume they have negotiating room — because they likely don’t.
In Sun Belt markets, the calculus has flipped. Inventory is up, sellers are cutting prices and dangling concessions, and buyers can afford to be methodical, touring broadly, studying comps, and negotiating without panic.
For Sun Belt sellers, the mindset shift is non-negotiable. Bankrate recommends pricing right from Day One, budgeting for months on the market and bracing for offers that sting a little. The bidding-war era in these markets is over, at least for now.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the best markets for buyers in 2026. It has been updated to reflect the markets where buyers have gained the most leverage since 2022.
