We’re thrilled to share Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty’s 2025 Market Report, covering all of the most relevant year-over-year data, market trends, economic factors and housing policies shaping the industry, and insights from experts. In addition to the illuminating retrospective, the report also looks ahead to what we might expect from our shifting market. After several years of elevated mortgage interest rates and low levels of inventory, many buyers and sellers have been left wondering if 2025 will finally bring the perfect market conditions they’ve been waiting for.

Unfortunately, there is no perfect market, and timing the market should be more about timing it to when you’re ready and not when the market is ready for you. The good news is that this means whenever you decide that the moment is right for you to buy, sell, or invest, is the moment you can begin your real estate journey. With the right strategies and market understanding—which this comprehensive annual report provides—you can achieve your goals at any time. So, let’s break down some of the report’s top findings.

Starting with one of the biggest points on most people’s minds: mortgage rates. Far from the incredible lows witnessed a few years ago but also not as high as the record highs witnessed in 2023, rates currently hover at 6.83%. In the report, Economist Matthew Gardner predicts that by the fourth quarter of 2025, rates could decrease to 6.4%. If this isn’t the major change you were hoping for, you’re not alone. However, as Carese Busby of Movement Mortgage declares in the report, waiting for even further rate drops could cost you, as she warns, “Wait at your own peril…More people want to buy than there are houses to meet demand.”

Buyers, prepare to make competitive offers when you do enter the market. Sellers, take advantage of the low inventory levels that have created a seller’s market, but understand that it’s still a far cry from the seller’s market of 2022, when buyers engaged in fierce bidding wars. Selling a home today means strategic pricing, stylish staging, and a solid marketing plan to entice buyers. Interested buyers are looking—they’re just not as quick to pull the trigger as yesterday’s buyers.

For those interested in utilizing real estate moves to achieve larger-picture financial goals, the report’s “Unlocking Wealth Strategies Through Real Estate” article, highlighting the partnership between UBS Wealth Management and RSIR, is a must-read. Learn how UBS Wealth Management can guide you through complex scenarios and harness their financial knowledge and experience for your real estate journey by educating you on everything from Washington’s estate and capital gains taxes to how to structure ownership through trusts or LLCs. Investors, the collaboration will also prove beneficial for your portfolio as UBS Wealth Management will instruct you on how to leverage tax tools, facilitate generational wealth transfer (a hot topic on everyone’s minds as Millennials and Generation X prepare to receive inheritances from Baby Boomers), and more.

We invite you to explore the report as we’ve provided just a brief preview of the useful intel it contains. Please reach out to us to discuss whatever sparks your interest and we can chart a path forward to reach your real estate dreams.

Exploring RSIR’s 2025 Market Report