The takeaways from the graph above will be different for different people.

Not suggested:

• Those who did negotiate probably didn’t get much of a discount.
• Most buyers and sellers were satisfied their agent was worth it.
• Better agents are prevailing.

Why is it important to Get Good Help?

The failure rate will be higher this year.

In normal markets, we’ve had a success rate of 60% to 65% of the listings closing escrow successfully. During the frenzy, it was as high as 80%! But look at what we’re faced with now.

NSDCC Total Sales/Total Listings

2024: 1,837/2,831 = 65%

2025: 716/1,549 = 46%

Obviously, this year is incomplete but I did include all of the current pendings to approximate this year’s conditions. It’s unlikely that the success rate will be improving through the second half of 2025.

It’s likely that MOST of the sellers this year will be unsuccessful.

What’s for sure? There will be a load of listings in 2026.