Buyers Just Hit a Record Low: The Widest Home Seller–Buyer Gap Ever Recorded

Updated on September 7, 2026

A viral post claimed that 1 in 7 homes for sale in America is in Florida — a state with only about 8% of the nation’s homes. We checked it against federal data, and among the states with the most homes for sale it is essentially true. Among the states with the most homes for sale, Florida is not just the largest by count; measured per person, it is listing at twice the national rate. This is the clearest snapshot of a Sun Belt housing glut, and the reason behind it has everything to do with the cost of keeping a home, not buying one. As of July 2026 there are 51.3% more sellers than buyers nationally — the widest gap ever recorded.

How many more sellers than buyers are there right now?

There were an estimated 1,462,921 home sellers and just 966,752 buyers in the U.S. housing market in July 2026 — 51.3% more sellers than buyers, the widest gap on record, according to Redfin. The number of active buyers has fallen to the lowest level Redfin has ever recorded, and the gap widened from 47.9% just one month earlier. With this many more sellers than buyers, it also reshuffles the map: the states with the most homes for sale by raw inventory (Florida) are no longer the only story — Texas and Tennessee metros now lead on buyer leverage.

Is it true that 1 in 7 homes for sale is in Florida?

Yes. According to the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) series drawn from Realtor.com, Florida had 153,348 active listings in June 2026 against 1,102,615 nationwide. That is 13.9% — one in every 7.2 homes for sale in the country. “One in seven” would be 14.3%, so the claim is accurate within rounding. You can check the numbers yourself on the Florida active listing series and the national series at the St. Louis Fed.

The viral chart used a different, near-real-time data provider that showed 13.6%. Two independent sources landing within a few tenths of a percent is exactly what you want when fact-checking a claim like this — it holds up.

Which states have the most homes for sale per capita?

Raw listing counts mostly track state size — Texas and California are huge, so they have lots of listings. The more revealing question among the states with the most homes for sale is which are over-listed relative to their population. Dividing active listings by population tells that story, and it reorders the map completely.

The pattern is unmistakable. Every state above the national average is in the Sun Belt — the same markets that boomed during the 2020–2022 migration wave. The big coastal and Midwestern states — California, New York, Illinois — sit far below average despite large raw numbers. Among the states with the most homes for sale, this is a regional story, not a national one, and Florida is its epicenter.

How did Florida get here? The 4x inventory surge

Florida’s place atop the states with the most homes for sale did not appear overnight. During the pandemic buying frenzy, inventory collapsed to a 35,586-listing trough in February 2022 as buyers snapped up anything available. It has since climbed to 153,348 — roughly four times the low.

Here is the nuance that keeps this honest: Florida’s share of national listings actually peaked higher a year ago. In 2024 it hit 16.7% — one in six homes for sale — and has since eased to 13.9% as inventory in other states rose to catch up. Florida is not uniquely worsening right now; it surged first and hardest, and the rest of the country is now following the same curve. That timing is what makes it the leading edge of the trend rather than an outlier.

Why Florida? It is the cost of keeping the home

The most important thing to understand about the states with the most homes for sale is that the pressure is not primarily about purchase prices. In Florida it is about the exploding cost of owning and holding a property.

• Home insurance is roughly triple the national average. Florida premiums have averaged around $7,100 to $8,500 a year for typical coverage, against a national average near $2,543 — a function of hurricane risk and years of costly litigation.
• Condo owners are being hit with massive special assessments. After the 2021 Surfside collapse, the state tightened building-safety and reserve laws, and the grace period ended on January 1, 2026. Roughly 40% of condo owners have faced special assessments in the last three years, some ranging from $134,000 to $400,000 per unit. Statewide condo supply has ballooned to about 13.2 months.
• Florida now posts the nation’s worst foreclosure rate. In the first half of 2026 its filings equaled about 0.27% of housing units — one in every 373 homes — the highest of any state, per ATTOM Data. National foreclosure activity rose 21% year over year.

Stack those together and the behavior makes sense: when insurance and assessments turn a paid-off condo into a four-figure monthly liability, owners list. Multiply that across a state, and you get the most over-listed housing market in America.

Is this a housing crash or a glut?

It is a glut, and among the states with the most homes for sale the distinction matters. The national numbers do not look like 2008. The delinquency rate on single-family mortgages sits at just 1.89% — near historic lows, against a 2010 peak above 11%. Consumer-credit delinquency is 2.64%, and the household debt-service ratio is a manageable 11.2%. Americans, broadly, are still paying their mortgages.

What is happening is an oversupply meeting weak affordability: too many homes listed, mortgage rates still elevated, and buyers negotiating hard. That is why price cuts are widespread across the Sun Belt — Arizona at roughly 45% of listings, Colorado 42%, North Carolina and Tennessee near 40%. Sellers are chasing a softening market down, not being foreclosed out of it. For most of the country, this reads as a return to a normal buyer’s market rather than a collapse.

Which metros have the most sellers per buyer in 2026?

The metros with the most sellers relative to buyers cluster in the Sun Belt — where more sellers than buyers is the defining condition — and four of the top five are in Florida and Texas:

At the other end, sellers are still scarce in parts of the Northeast: Nassau County, NY (−36%), Newark, NJ (−21%), and Providence, RI (−17%) all have more buyers than sellers — and where there are more buyers than sellers, prices rose 4.2% on average versus 2.3% in buyer’s markets. Houston, San Antonio, and Austin are deregulated-electricity markets, so buyers closing there also choose their own electric provider.

What should buyers do with this leverage?

A market with 51.3% more sellers than buyers means negotiating power on the house — price, credits, repairs. But the savings most buyers leave on the table come after the contract: the utility setup. In the states with the most homes for sale, the same address can have dozens of electricity plans and multiple internet providers; taking the defaults can cost hundreds a year. Negotiate the house, then don’t overpay on what powers it.

• How to transfer utilities when moving
• New home utilities checklist
• Cheapest home insurance for first-time buyers

What this means if you are buying, selling, or moving

The states with the most homes for sale are, by definition, buyer’s markets. Whether you are hunting a deal in a buyer’s market or trying to sell into one, the recurring cost of running a home is now the part that decides affordability — and it is the part you can actually shop.

• Buyers: get an insurance quote before you make an offer, not after. In high-cost states the premium can rival the property-tax bill, and it can make or break the monthly payment.
• Sellers: a clean, well-documented home — current insurance, and for condos a clear reserve and assessment status — stands out in a market this crowded.
• Movers: every relocation means re-setting up the recurring services that make up the true cost of a home. Line up internet at your new address, and if you are heading somewhere rural, check rural internet options before you close.
• Owners feeling the squeeze: a home warranty can cap the cost of a major system failure when a surprise assessment or premium hike has already stretched the budget, and it is worth understanding what your homeowners insurance does and does not cover.

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