These Markets Are Best for Buyers

A new study finds the 10 metros with the best buyer conditions ahead of the peak spring real estate season. While three of the top metros were in Florida, the best overall market for buyers is New York.

The Zillow Buyer-Seller Index puts New York at the top, not because it is affordable, but because of all the 35 biggest U.S. metros, it has the longest number of days on market, 132 days. The next longest tenure of days on market is in Chicago (102 days), and Miami (99 days). New York's median home value in January 2019 was $438,300. The share of listings with a price cut in the metro is 14.6 percent. The metro with the highest share was Tampa, Fla., at 23.2 percent.

The third metric in the buyer-seller index is the sale-to-list-price ratio. A ratio above 100 percent indicates that buyers are paying more than list price. The further the ratio falls below 100 percent, the better the market is for buyers – because they’re paying that much less than list, which would be 100 percent even. The lowest ratios among the largest metros are Pittsburgh, at 93.7 percent, Miami at 93.9 percent and Chicago at 94.2 percent.

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