Key Details:
- Clever Real Estate’s latest survey reveals a $27,000 gap between buyers’ and sellers’ price expectations for 2025, with first-time buyers expecting to pay $82,000 less than sellers anticipate.
- While 74% of sellers say they’d pull their home off the market if they don’t get their desired price, 35% of buyers won’t pay asking or above.
- Plus, 72% of sellers expect to close in under four months, while 58% of buyers foresee a longer timeline.
Have you noticed this gap with your clients?
A recent survey by Clever Real Estate highlighted expectations for the 2025 housing market. And the research revealed some noteworthy disconnects between buyers and sellers.
The #1 disconnect is about pricing—which, to be fair, is not a new thing. Every seller hopes to make a tidy profit on the sale of their home, just as every buyer hopes to save a hunk of their homebuying budget. That’s where you come in as a knowledgeable real estate professional.
The size of this year’s price gap could present some additional challenges when you’re navigating a successful transaction for your buyer and seller clients.
The more you know, the better you can prepare for those conversations.
The Price Gap: Buyers vs. Sellers
One of the biggest challenges in 2025 will be aligning buyer budgets with seller expectations.
- Buyers expect to spend an average of $386,507 on a home—less than the median U.S. home price of $420,000 (as of Q3 2024).
- Sellers, on the other hand, are looking to sell for an average of $413,976.
For those keeping track, this creates a $27,000 gap.
This mismatch is even more pronounced for first-time buyers, who expect to spend $331,546 — $82,000 below what sellers anticipate. With limited housing inventory and affordability concerns still top-of-mind, bridging this gap will be a key factor in 2025 transactions.
On the other hand, repeat homebuyers may overestimate how much they’ll have to spend, expecting to pay $436,682, on average, which is almost $23,000 more than what the average home seller is expecting.
Today’s sellers are pretty confident in the value of their homes; nearly one in four (74%) say they would consider pulling their property off the market if they can’t get the price they want.
More than one in three (35%) buyers do not expect to buy a home at or above the asking price, while 85% of sellers expect to sell at or above asking.
Expected sale price of homes in 2025:
- Repeat home buyers: $436,682
- Median U.S. home sale price: $420,400
- Home sellers: $413,976
- All home buyers: $386,507
- First-time buyers: $331,546
Buyer & Seller Timeline Expectations
There’s also a mismatch between buyer and seller expectations when it comes to the timeline for buying/selling a home. More than half of the home buyers surveyed (58%) expect their home purchase to take more than four months from the start until closing, while nearly three-quarters of home sellers (72%) expect the process to take less than four months.
Buyer and seller expectations for the home sale/purchase timeline:
- Fewer than 2 months: 11% of home buyers and 34% of home sellers buyers
- 2 to 3 months: 16% of buyers and 22% of sellers
- 3 to 4 months: 16% of both buyers and sellers
- 4 to 5 months: 11% of both buyers and sellers
- 5 to 6 months: 20% of buyers and 11% of sellers
- More than 6 months: 27% of buyers and 6% of sellers
Will 2025 be a seller’s market?
When it comes to market conditions, a larger share of buyers and sellers (42%) expect 2025 to lean toward a seller’s market, compared to 33% who see it favoring buyers. Agents, however, are divided, with 40% forecasting a seller’s market and 37% anticipating a buyer’s market.
Price expectations reflect a similar optimism. Nearly half of buyers (45%) and sellers (47%) believe home prices in their local markets will increase, far outpacing the 22% of buyers and 15% of sellers who think prices will decline.
Among agents, 58% predict rising prices, though most expect modest gains:
- 52% foresee increases of less than 10%.
- 28% expect even smaller hikes under 5%.
Another notable finding: 22% of agents believe home prices will decline in 2025—a trend that hasn’t been widely seen since the Great Recession.
Read the full report for more information, including additional charts and methodology.
