Home sellers cut prices as market stalls, Liz Suder sells for $650,000
A stagnant US housing market is forcing sellers nationwide to lower listings and offer concessions, with median prices falling and price cuts reaching a four‑year high.
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
Stagnant Housing Market
Photograph: The Independent (US) (embedded from source)
What this story says
- Stagnant market and high mortgage rates are prompting sellers to cut prices and add buyer concessions.
- National median home listing price fell 1.2% to $419,250 in September, with 21% of listings lowered, a four‑year high.
- Liz Suder sold her Murphy, Texas home for $650,000 after reducing the asking price from $750,000 and contributing $9,000 toward repairs.
- Rick Ganga in Blaine, Washington has received no offers on his $825,000 home despite lowering the price below $800,000.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 21 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 2 of the 23 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .
Trust
50/100
Craft
60/100
Hype
20/100
23 sources · methodology
A stagnant housing market, driven by surging mortgage rates, years of rising home prices and persistent inflation, has left many owners unable to move for work, family or other life changes. Sellers who cannot withdraw their listings are feeling pressure to lower asking prices and to add thousands of dollars toward a buyer’s closing costs.
Realtor.com data show the national median home listing price declined 1.2% in September from a year earlier to $419,250, marking the eleventh consecutive month of year‑over‑year drops. About 21% of September listings had their initial price reduced, the highest proportion in four years.
In Murphy, Texas, Liz Suder listed her four‑bedroom, 3.5‑bath house for $750,000 in April 2025. After a year of price cuts and a temporary withdrawal, she relisted in February for $725,000 and ultimately sold for $650,000, adding $9,000 toward repairs to close the deal.
Rick Ganga, facing a divorce, put his three‑bedroom, 2.5‑bath home in Blaine, Washington on the market on 1 June for $825,000. Even after lowering the price to just under $800,000, he reports no offers and expects the property to remain unsold until spring or summer of the following year.
Ethan Butner in Troutdale, Oregon, listed his home for $480,000 and later cut $30,000 from the price. The reduction generated a single offer that later fell through, leaving him and his family feeling stuck while they await a buyer.
“"The dynamic has shifted back toward more of what we call buyers’ markets rather than sellers’ markets,"”
$419,250
Median home listing price in September
Down 1.2% from a year earlier
What the coverage left out
No centre‑rated or right‑rated outlets ran this story, so their reports do not mention any of the price‑cut data, homeowner examples or the shift toward a buyers’ market described above.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 2 times, most recently on 25 Oct 2026, 16:16, and will add the sides that appear.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
8 rated outlets
- The left‑rated digests from The Independent, The Record, Associated Press News, The Toronto Star, NBC Dallas‑Fort Worth and NBC Bay Area all reported a stagnant housing market, rising mortgage rates and sellers remaining on the market for months without offers.
- The Independent’s full article described the market shift, cited chief economist Mark Fleming on the move toward a buyers’ market, and included Liz Suder’s account of listing her Texas home at $750,000, relisting at $725,000 and selling for $650,000 after a year.
- abc News presented the same market background, quoted Mark Fleming with the same assessment, and reproduced Suder’s remarks about waiting to sell, the year‑long delay and the $9,000 repair contribution that accompanied the $650,000 sale.
- None of the left‑rated pieces mentioned any policy proposals, buyer‑side perspectives or regional variations beyond the Texas example, and they did not provide statistical data on buyer demand or inventory levels.
Centre
11 rated outlets
- Both centre outlets reported that a slowdown in the U.S. housing market is prompting many sellers to cut listing prices and offer buyer concessions. They linked the slowdown to higher mortgage rates, several years of price growth and persistent inflation, which together are reducing buyer demand.
- Washington Top News led on the shift, noting that sellers outnumber buyers and that the median listing price fell 1.2 % in September. It quoted Mark Fleming of First American Financial describing a move toward a buyers’ market, and Jake Krimmel of Realtor.com on buyer leverage. The report also detailed Liz Suder’s Texas sale at $650,000 after multiple price cuts and Rick Ganga’s Washington home listed above $800,000 with no offers.
- WKMG’s digest led on the same slowdown, describing a market hampered by surging mortgage rates, years of rising home prices and an economy weakened by inflation. It said many sellers are stuck in limbo as homes remain on the market for months without offers, but it did not provide individual seller examples or specific statistics.
- Compared with Washington Top News, the WKMG digest omitted the quoted economists, the median‑price decline figure and the detailed case studies of Suder and Ganga. Washington Top News included those elements, while WKMG’s brief summary did not mention any specific price‑cut percentages or regional seller anecdotes.
Right
2 rated outlets
We have not written our reading of the right coverage of this story. The right-rated outlets that ran it are listed below.
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Home sellers cut prices as market stalls, Liz Suder sells for $650,000?
- Of the 21 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 38% are rated left, 52% are rated centre, 10% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 23. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Home sellers cut prices as market stalls, Liz Suder sells for $650,000 left or right?
- Neither side dominates it. Of the 21 rated outlets on this story, 38% are rated left, 52% are rated centre, 10% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
- Is the coverage of Home sellers cut prices as market stalls, Liz Suder sells for $650,000 biased?
- Home sellers cut prices as market stalls, Liz Suder sells for $650,000 is one event reported by 23 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which outlets covered Home sellers cut prices as market stalls, Liz Suder sells for $650,000?
- 23 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- Why are home sellers lowering their prices?
- Sellers are cutting prices because rising mortgage rates, high inflation and lingering high home prices have reduced buyer demand, turning the market into a buyers’ market where concessions are needed to attract offers.
- What is the current median home listing price?
- The median home listing price in September fell to $419,250, a 1.2% decline from the same month a year earlier, according to Realtor.com data cited in the report.
- How many listings had price cuts in September?
- About 21% of all home listings in September had their initial asking price lowered, representing the highest proportion of price cuts in four years, as reported by the Independent.
- What happened to Liz Suder’s house in Texas?
- Liz Suder listed her Murphy, Texas home for $750,000, later reduced the price to $725,000, and finally sold it for $650,000 after contributing $9,000 toward repairs, ending a year‑long selling process.
Read it at the source
23 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
8- U.S. home sellers are lowering their price and helping buyers to make a deal in a stagnant market (opens The Toronto Star in a new tab)
The Toronto Star — is The Toronto Star biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Home sellers are lowering their price and helping buyers to make a deal in a stagnant market (opens Associated Press News in a new tab)
Associated Press News — is Associated Press News biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Home sellers are lowering their price and helping buyers to make a deal in a stagnant market (opens ABC News in a new tab)
- Home sellers are lowering their price and helping buyers to make a deal in a stagnant market (opens The Independent in a new tab)
The Independent — is The Independent biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Home sellers are lowering their price and helping buyers to make a deal in a stagnant market (opens The Independent (US) in a new tab)
The Independent (US) — is The Independent (US) biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Home sellers are lowering their price and helping buyers to make a deal in a stagnant market (opens The Record in a new tab)
The Record — is The Record biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Home sellers are lowering their price and helping buyers to make a deal in a stagnant market (opens NBC Dallas-Fort Worth in a new tab)
NBC Dallas-Fort Worth — is NBC Dallas-Fort Worth biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Home sellers are lowering their price and helping buyers to make a deal in a stagnant market (opens NBC Bay Area in a new tab)
NBC Bay Area — is NBC Bay Area biased? Our profile of this outlet
Centre
11- Client Challenge (opens Connecticut Post in a new tab)
Connecticut Post — is Connecticut Post biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Client Challenge (opens Houston Chronicle in a new tab)
Houston Chronicle — is Houston Chronicle biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Meet the homeowners who have been forced to slash their asking prices in a stagnant market. 'It’s been a roller coaster of emotion' (opens Fortune in a new tab)
- Home sellers are lowering their price and helping buyers to make a deal in a stagnant market (opens Wral News in a new tab)
- Home sellers are lowering their price and helping buyers to make a deal in a stagnant market – WTOP News (opens Washington Top News in a new tab)
Washington Top News — is Washington Top News biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Home sellers are lowering their price and helping buyers to make a deal in a stagnant market (opens Newsday in a new tab)
- Home sellers are lowering their price and helping buyers to make a deal in a stagnant market (opens KSAT 12 in a new tab)
- Home sellers are lowering their price and helping buyers to make a deal in a stagnant market (opens KARK in a new tab)
Show 3 more
- Home sellers are lowering their price and helping buyers to make a deal in a stagnant market (opens News 4 JAX in a new tab)
News 4 JAX — is News 4 JAX biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Home sellers are lowering their price and helping buyers to make a deal in a stagnant market (opens WKMG in a new tab)
- Home sellers are lowering their price and helping buyers to make a deal in a stagnant market (opens Winnipeg Free Press in a new tab)
Winnipeg Free Press — is Winnipeg Free Press biased? Our profile of this outlet
Right
2- Client Challenge (opens CT Insider in a new tab)
CT Insider — is CT Insider biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Home sellers are lowering their price and helping buyers to make a deal in a stagnant market (opens Washington Times in a new tab)
Washington Times — is Washington Times biased? Our profile of this outlet
Not rated
2- Meet the homeowners who have been forced to slash their asking prices in a stagnant market (opens MSNBCTV NEWS in a new tab)
MSNBCTV NEWS — is MSNBCTV NEWS biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Meet the homeowners who have been forced to slash their asking prices in a stagnant market. ‘It’s been a roller coaster of emotion’ (opens BizToc in a new tab)
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