More About the Changing Market

More About the Changing Market

Market Update:  This past week, sellers in Santa Cruz County logged another 30 price reductions which means that so far, through the first third of 2026, we’re averaging 200 price reductions a month. What does that mean?

It means that the market is shifting and the conversation around real estate is changing. If you are paying attention, you’ve already noticed that those irritating Realtor brag posts have disappeared from your feed. You know, the ones crowing about: Record Sale! 20 Offers and 30% Above List!, Sold in Three Days! and Multiple-Offer Madness! 

Instead, more agents are having to reach deeper into their trusty grabbags of marketing euphemisms looking for ways to promote price drops without actually using the dreaded words:  Price Reduction! Here are a few:

• Price Improvement — Suggests the new price is better, not lower.
• Price Adjustment — Neutral, implies a strategic tweak.
• Price Enhancement — Frames the change as adding value to buyers.
• Value Refresh — A softer, marketing‑friendly way to signal a new price point.
• Market‑Aligned Pricing — Implies the home is now better positioned against comps.
• Newly Repositioned Price — Suggests a strategic shift in how the home is presented.
• Updated Offering Price — Straightforward but still avoids the word “reduction.”
• Fresh Price Point — Friendly, upbeat, and often used in marketing blasts.

For the first time in a very long time, we have a market that’s trending away from the incredibly lopsided market sellers enjoyed for a decade (2012-2022). Watching the market adjust in real time is always a fascinating process, one that reminds us how the market actually works, even if we conveniently forgot when it was appreciating off the charts.

When you are a seller in the middle of a seller’s market, multiple-offers and overbids seem like the most natural things in the world. When underlying market conditions shift in the buyer’s favor, it’s hard for sellers to accept the fact that the market isn’t going up anymore and that it can even (gasp) go down!

Here’s the truth: Our market is not “better” than it was last year. And last year’s market wasn’t “better” than it was the year before. Those crazy multiple-offers that left such an indelible impression in our psyches peaked back in 2022. More than four years ago.  

So, if you are selling now, do your best to check your assumptions at the door. It’s likely that your house isn’t going to sell for as much as you’d like it to, just as many buyers who bought too hastily during the pandemic are finding out, as they struggle to resell their homes.