Is It Still a Seller's Market? Here's What the Data Says.

A few years ago, sellers held nearly all the leverage in most housing markets. Buyers were offering well over asking price and waiving inspections just to get a shot at a home. In many parts of the country, that particular moment has passed.

Nationally, more metro areas are shifting toward a more balanced market, and buyers are slowly gaining room to negotiate again. But that shift is not happening everywhere at the same pace, and the national data alone does not describe what is happening in the Kansas City metro.

Here is what the data actually shows, both nationally and across the eight counties that make up the greater Kansas City metro, and what it means depending on whether someone is buying or selling this year.

The National Shift Toward a More Balanced Market

The national data tells a fairly clear story. According to Realtor.com’s Market Clock Report:

"The national housing market is balanced but gradually loosening as the cycle moves in a more buyer-friendly direction . . ."

That is because inventory has grown in a lot of metro areas over the past few years. Looking at the top 50 metro areas over time, the shift is obvious: in 2021, almost every major metro was a seller’s market. By the end of 2025, only about 1 in 3 still favored sellers (see chart below).

That is a real change nationally. But it is an average across 50 cities, and it does not describe any one local market, including Kansas City’s.

Why the National Trend Does Not Describe Every Metro

Whether buyers or sellers hold the leverage in a given market comes down to supply and demand in that specific area, and that varies enormously by region.

Metro areas in the southern region of the US, like Austin, Tampa, and San Antonio, saw major building booms in recent years. That gave buyers more homes to choose from and more room to negotiate. Meanwhile, cities in the Northeast and Midwest did not see that same wave of new construction, so inventory in those markets stayed tighter and competition stayed stronger.

"The formerly hot [southern US] markets have cooled, while the Northeast and Midwest have stayed hot. 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."

That is Jeff Ostrowski, Housing Analyst at Bankrate, describing the national pattern. The Kansas City metro fits the second half of that description more than the first.

What the Kansas City Metro Data Actually Shows

Kansas City did not see the kind of building boom that loosened inventory across parts of the southern US. That shows up clearly in the county-level data KCRAR reported through ShowingTime for June 2026.

Across the eight counties that make up the greater Kansas City metro, months of supply ranged from 1.8 in Clay County to 2.7 in Leavenworth County. A market is generally considered balanced somewhere around five to six months of supply. Every county in the KC metro is running at roughly a third of that or less, which is the signature of a market still tilted toward sellers.

Sellers are also still closing close to, or above, their original asking price almost everywhere in the metro. In June, homes in Johnson County closed at 101% of original list price on average, and Clay County closed at 100.4%. Jackson, Platte, Douglas, and Leavenworth counties all closed between 98.5% and 99.1%. Only Miami County, the smallest and most rural of the eight, dropped meaningfully below full price, at 94.9%.

Homes are also still moving fast. Days on market ranged from 28 in Wyandotte County to 59 in Miami County, with most of the metro closing in under five weeks.

None of that looks like a market that has shifted toward buyers. It looks like a market where sellers, particularly in Johnson and Clay counties, are still holding most of the leverage.

What This Means for Buyers and Sellers Making a Move

The national headlines about buyers gaining ground are accurate, but they describe an average, not a location. Anyone reading those headlines and assuming Kansas City has already caught up to that shift would be working from the wrong data.

For sellers in Johnson or Clay counties, current conditions still favor pricing with confidence and expecting a fast sale close to asking price, provided the home is priced correctly from the start. For sellers in Miami or Wyandotte counties, where days on market run longer or list-price recovery is lower, building more flexibility on price or terms into the listing strategy from day one is worth considering.

For buyers, tight inventory across nearly every county means competitive offers are still likely, especially in Johnson County, where 1.9 months of supply leaves little room to wait out the market. Buyers hoping for the kind of negotiating room described in the national data should look at the numbers for the specific county they are searching in, not the national average.

If buying in a market still favoring sellers:

• Get pre-approved before starting the search. It signals seriousness to sellers.
• Be ready to move quickly once the right home hits the market.
• Consider a faster closing timeline or flexible terms to strengthen an offer.
• Build a competitive offer around actual local data, not general assumptions about the market.

If selling in a market that still favors sellers, but unevenly by county:

• Price it accurately from day one. Overpricing costs time even in a tight market.
• Use staging and curb appeal to stand out, particularly in counties with longer days on market.
• Know the county-level numbers before setting expectations on price and timeline.

Bottom Line

Local markets right now are moving in different directions, and the Kansas City metro is a clear example of that divergence. National inventory gains have not reached most of the eight-county KC metro yet, and sellers in several of those counties, especially Johnson and Clay, are still holding real leverage.

Munkel Real Estate Solutions tracks county-level KCRAR data every month because the eight counties that make up the Kansas City metro rarely move in the same direction at the same time. A strategy built around national headlines, or even around what is happening one county over, can miss what is actually happening on a specific street.

Sources: Realtor.com Market Clock Report; Bankrate; KCRAR ShowingTime county data, June 2026.