Price Cuts Are On The Rise

[Michael Carbonare]

A lot of sellers tried a little trick over the holidays.

They pulled their homes off the market in November and December. . .then quietly relisted them later. It didn’t work.

1) 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲 “𝐃𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲”

Many sellers pulled their listings in November–December because those are historically the slowest months for housing activity. Agents often recommend:

Take the property off the market to avoid accumulating Days on Market

Wait for the “spring buyer surge” to bloom

The belief is that a fresh listing in March looks better than a stale listing that’s been sitting for 120+ days.

2. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐈𝐥𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧

When they relist, sellers are hoping for one of two things:

A new pool of buyers

The perception that their home is “new inventory”

But buyers today are data-aware. Between Zillow history, MLS history, and price tracking, the market can see exactly what happened. The reset almost never works.

3. 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐇𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐲

Once the home relists in March, sellers discover:

Buyer demand is still weak

Affordability hasn’t improved

Competing listings are piling up

So the only lever left is price.

That’s why 36% of relisted homes in 2026 are now below their original list price, a record in this dataset.

4. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬

Sellers are moving from denial to negotiation. The timeline looks like this:

1) Optimism is high, so is the price

2) Sit with no offers

3) Delist during holidays

4) Relist hoping buyers infected with FOMO appear

5) Cut price

We're now in Stage 5 in many markets.

5. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬

For creative investors this environment is ideal.

When sellers reach this stage, they often become far more flexible than the listing price suggests. Price cuts are just the first crack. Creative terms usually come next.

If you're an aspiring investor sitting on the sidelines waiting for opportunities…

this is exactly the type of market where creative deal structures start working again.

Stop saving, start investing.