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Price Cuts Are Down. Here's What To Tell Your Sellers.

Softer list prices, fewer reductions - and the pricing conversation that keeps a listing from sitting.

Ethan Whiting•
Price Cuts Are Down. Here's What To Tell Your Sellers.

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Price Cuts Are Down. Here's What To Tell Your Sellers.

This week's data carries a contradiction worth a minute of your time, because it changes what you say at your next listing appointment.

List prices are falling at the fastest pace in nearly a decade. And yet the share of homes getting price cuts is going down, not up. Those two facts look like they shouldn't coexist — until you see what's underneath them. What's underneath is one of the most useful pricing conversations you may have this year — and most agents are still having the old one.

Here's the issue, and then the language, sheets, and checks to run it well.

What actually changed

The median list price in May was $429,500, down 2.4% year over year — the seventh straight month of annual declines and the steepest drop in Realtor.com's data since they began tracking it in 2017. On its face, that reads like a softening market, and a softening market is where you'd expect price cuts to climb.

They didn't. The share of active listings with a price reduction fell to 17.5%, down more than a point and a half from a year ago. Realtor.com's economists described the behavior plainly: sellers are now doing price discovery from the start — pricing to current conditions before the sign goes in the yard, rather than testing a high number and getting forced down later. Demand backs it up. Pending sales rose for a sixth straight month, existing-home sales climbed to a 4.17 million annual pace in May per NAR, and new listings hit their highest May level since 2022.

So the real story isn't "the market is softening." Plenty of free newsletters will tell your sellers that, and it's true but not useful. The useful version is this: correctly priced homes are still selling, the sellers who price right on day one are quietly winning, and price cuts are down — which suggests more sellers are pricing with current conditions in mind from the start. The agents getting paid right now are the ones running this conversation before a listing sits, not patching it up after.

One more piece of context that gives this urgency without any need to manufacture it. Mortgage rates are moderate but moving. Freddie Mac put the 30-year at 6.48% the first week of June, down from 6.53% the week before and well under the 6.85% of a year ago — but daily rate trackers have shown some upward movement since then, a reminder that the rate backdrop can change quickly. Redfin's latest weekly read notes the buyer advantage actually started to shrink last month as new supply pulled back. Translation for your seller: the window where a well-priced home moves quickly is open right now, and no one can promise how long it stays that way.

That is the whole spine of the conversation. The rest of this issue is how to run it.

Tool 1 — The Pre-Listing Pricing Conversation

Use this at the kitchen table, before you name a number. The goal isn't to "talk the seller down." It's to reframe correct pricing as the thing that gets them the most money, because in this market it genuinely is. Adapt the brackets to your data.

"Before we land on a price, I want to show you how this market is actually behaving, because it's not what the headlines say.

Prices have softened a little — [your local number] — but here's the part most people miss: homes are not sitting because of small price drops. They're sitting because they were priced for last year's market and buyers won't chase them. The sellers doing well right now are the ones who price to today's buyer on the first day. The data even shows price cuts are down — a sign more sellers are getting this right up front.

Here's why that matters for you specifically. Your home gets the most attention in its first [10–14] days on the market — that's when every buyer who's been waiting and every agent with a matching client looks at it fresh. If we price it where today's buyers already are, we use that window. If we price it high to 'leave room,' we burn the window, the home goes stale, and then we're cutting price from a position of weakness — and buyers read days-on-market and price-drop history now. They can see it.

So I'm not pricing you low. I'm pricing you to sell, in the window where selling is easiest, before rates or the season work against us. Let me show you the three numbers I'd want you to see."

Then move straight into the one-pager (Artifact 3) and the local numbers (Artifact 4). The script earns the right to show the data; the data closes it.

Tool 2 — The Three Objections You’ll Hear This Month

For each: what the seller is really saying, the fact that answers it, and the words to use.

"Zillow says it's worth more." What they're really saying: a number I saw online feels more official than your opinion. The answer is that an automated estimate is a starting guess, not a buyer — it can't see your countertops, your roof, the busy road, or the remodel down the block, and it lags the live market by weeks. Buyers and their agents price off what's actually going under contract right now. Say: "I'm glad you pulled that up — it's a fine ballpark, but it's an algorithm averaging public records, not a buyer writing a check. It can't see your updates or your street. What sets your price is what comparable homes are actually closing for this month and how fast — and that's exactly what I brought. Can I walk you through it?"

"The neighbors got more last year." What they're really saying: I have an anchor, and it's higher than your number. The answer is that last year is a different market — list prices are down across seven straight months, and the buyer who paid that price last spring was shopping a different rate and a smaller set of choices. Pricing to a stale sold comp is how a good home goes stale itself. Say: "They probably did, and that was the right price then. But buyers today aren't comparing your home to last year's sales — they're comparing it to everything else they can see this week, and they have more to choose from. If we price to last year, we're competing for a buyer who doesn't exist anymore. If we price to right now, we compete for the buyer who's actually out there with a pre-approval."

"Let's list high and see what happens." What they're really saying: there's no harm in trying. The answer is that there is, and it's measurable. Homes that sit get stigmatized; nationally a listing past 60 days is considered stale, and in slower metros the majority of inventory is already there. The "try high, cut later" path usually nets less than pricing right on day one, after you've spent the home's best two weeks of attention testing a number buyers already rejected. Say: "I understand the instinct, and I'd never tell you to leave money on the table. But 'list high and adjust' has a real cost in this market. We'd spend your best two weeks of buyer attention on a price they'll skip, the home starts racking up days on market that buyers can see, and when we cut, we're negotiating from a home that 'has a problem.' The sellers netting the most right now are the ones who priced it right the first time. I want you to be one of them — that's the whole reason I'm being straight with you on the number."

Tool 3 — The Seller Price-Positioning Sheet

A one-page positioning sheet. Lift it into a printout or a one-image PDF for the listing packet. Plug your local numbers into the brackets.

What's Different About Pricing in 2026 — A Quick Guide for Sellers

1. The market is steady, not falling apart. Homes are still selling — buyer demand has risen for six straight months nationally. Prices have eased modestly, but this is a normalizing market, not a crash.

2. Fewer sellers are cutting prices — because more are pricing right the first time. The share of listings forced into a price reduction has gone down this year. The sellers who win price to today's buyer from day one instead of testing a high number and chasing it down.

3. Your first two weeks are your most valuable. A new listing gets its biggest wave of attention right after it hits the market. Pricing it correctly captures that wave. Pricing it high spends it — and buyers can now see exactly how long a home has sat and every price drop it's taken.

The cost of "leaving room":

  • Priced right on day one → most showings early, offers while interest is high, often at or near asking.

  • Priced high "to negotiate" → quiet first weeks, growing days-on-market, a price cut from weakness, and usually a lower final number.

Bottom line: In this market, the right list price isn't the highest number we can justify — it's the number that gets you the most buyers in the door while your home is new and rates are still in your favor. That's how we net you the most.

Prepared by [Agent Name] • [Brokerage] • Local figures as of [date]

Tool 4 — The MLS Check Before You Repeat the National Headline

National numbers set the story; your MLS sets your price. The market is sharply two-track right now — in May, New York saw 41% of homes sell above list at 37 days on market, while Texas ran 68 days with price drops rising. Repeating a national average to a seller in either of those markets makes you sound out of touch. Pull these five before every listing appointment, for the specific neighborhood and price band — not the whole metro:

  1. Median days on market, last 90 days. Benchmark: Redfin's national median sat around 49 days this spring, and listings past 60 days are widely treated as "stale." Under your local median = price to move. Well over it = the market is telling you something before you list.

  2. Sale-to-list ratio, last 90 days. Near or above 100% means correctly priced homes are still getting full price (or competition). In the low-to-mid 90s, buyers are negotiating — price accordingly.

  3. Share of active listings with a price cut. Compare to the ~17.5% national figure. Materially higher locally = a lot of your competition mispriced on day one; don't join them.

  4. Months of supply. NAR had national inventory at 4.5 months in May. Under ~4 favors sellers; pushing 6+ favors buyers. This sets how aggressive your pricing needs to be.

  5. New listings vs. pending, last 30 days. If new listings are outrunning pendings, inventory is building and pricing power is slipping — price ahead of that curve, not behind it.

Write the five numbers at the top of your listing presentation. They turn "trust me" into "here's your market," and they're the backbone of every script above.

Tool 5 — The Buyer-Side Version

More price discipline does not mean buying got easy, and a buyer who hears "prices are down" may assume it did. Be ready to reset that calmly.

The math: a few thousand dollars off a median-priced home plus a rate near 6.5% instead of last year's 6.85% — depending on loan size and down payment — may work out to roughly $100–$150 a month in principal-and-interest relief on a median-priced purchase. Real, but not the kind of swing that turns a maybe into a yes by itself, and it evaporates if rates drift back toward 7%. What buyers are actually getting is more choice, more time to decide, and more room to negotiate repairs and terms — leverage, not a discount.

Say: "Prices have come off their peak a little, and you've got more to choose from and more room to negotiate than buyers did a year ago — that's a real advantage. What hasn't changed much is the monthly payment, because rates are doing most of the work there. So the smart move isn't to wait for prices to fall further — pending sales are rising and rates are bouncing around, not dropping. It's to use the leverage you have right now, while you can still take your time and negotiate."

That keeps a hesitant buyer from talking themselves into the "I'll just wait" corner that a softer headline can create — without overpromising affordability you can't deliver.

Put to work this week

Three things you can use before your next appointment:

  • Pull the five MLS numbers for your active or upcoming listing's neighborhood and price band.

  • Bring the one-pager to your next seller meeting and lead with the "first two weeks" point.

  • Pick the objection you hear most and say the response out loud twice before you need it.

If a seller this week wants to list high and "see what happens," you now have the data, the script, and the sheet to show them why pricing right is the aggressive move.

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Sources

Figures reflect the most recent data available before publication. Always confirm against your local MLS before applying to a specific listing.

Price Cuts Are Down. Here's What To Tell Your Sellers. | National Real Estate Brief