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Looking for a new place to live? Two California cities rank among the least favorable markets for homebuyers in 2026.
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That’s according to a recent study by Best Interest Financial.
The website, which is owned by real estate platform Clever, went in search of the real estate markets with the most buyer-friendly conditions in 2026.
“Buyers have more negotiating power today than they’ve had in years, but their influence varies widely from one market to another,” Best Interest Financial writer and strategist Jaime Dunaway-Seale wrote in a July 27 article.
Researchers analyzed housing data across the 50 most populous metropolitan areas to determine where homebuyers have the most power — and where they face the toughest conditions to close deals.
While buyer-friendly conditions are emerging in parts of the United States, home sellers retain firm control elsewhere, according to the Best Interest Financial study.
Where’s what you should know:
What are worst California markets for homebuyers?
Two California metropolitan areas ranked toward the bottom of Best Interest Financial’s 2026 list of the 50 most favorable housing markets for buyers.
Fresno landed at No. 42, while San Francisco was No. 49.
“One thing that keeps Fresno slightly higher on the list is the average sale-price-to-list ratio, which is 98.86, meaning that homes tended to sell slightly under listing price,” Clara Haverstic, a data analyst with Clever, told The Fresno Bee via email.
“While this figure is still higher than most cities in the study, the fact that it is less than 100% indicates slight favorability for the buyer,” the analyst said.
However, cuts in home prices remain rare and relatively modest.
“Only 16.79% of active listings in Fresno had a price drop, and those price drops had an average size of only 3.39%,” Haverstic added.
Nationally, 20.2% of active listings feature price cuts of 4% on average, and homes sell at an average of 98.3% of the listing price, the study said.
According to Best Interest Financial, homes in Fresno had a median listing price of $434,926, compared to a median sales price of $428,678.
In comparison, homes nationwide had a median list price of $410,214, while the national median sale price was $398,771.
Homes in Fresno spend a median of about 54 days on the market, compared with 49 days nationwide, the study said.
That leaves “buyers little room to negotiate,” Best Interest Financial said.
In San Francisco, homes sold for 108% of their asking price on average, according to the study.
The median listing price for a San Francisco home was about $1.4 million, while the median sales price was more than $1.7 million.
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San Francisco had only 1.7 months worth of housing inventory, well below the national average of 3.7 months. In comparison, Fresno had a median housing supply of 3.4 months.
Homes in the Bay Area city spent a median of 19 days on the market.
Where can homebuyers find the best deals?
According to Best Interest Financial, homebuyers have more opportunities to find deal in the United States’ largest cities.
There, “elevated mortgage rates” are “cooling demand and slowing sales,” the study said.
Researchers found that typical homes sell below list price in 41 of the top 50 U.S. metro areas.
“Buyers don’t have a lot of leverage in San Francisco, which is still firmly a seller’s market,” Best Interest Financial said, noting that only 10.2% of active listings get discounted.
When listing prices in the Bay Area city drop, however, they do so by a “large margin” — 6.3% on average, the study found.
Where are most favorable U.S. markets for homebuyers?
In buyer-friendly markets, rising inventory causes homes to remain on the market longer, prompting sellers to lower asking prices and offer concessions to secure sales.
“Even then, buyers ready to negotiate are well positioned to find favorable terms, including additional price drops and concessions,” the study said.
- Detroit
- San Antonio, Texas
- Austin, Texas
- Pittsburgh
- Houston
- Tampa, Florida
- Memphis, Tennessee
- Dallas
- Indianapolis
- Philadelphia
No California cities ranked among the top 15 metro areas where homebuyers have the most leverage, according to the study.
Where do buyers have least negotiating power?
Although the national housing market is gradually shifting toward buyers, several markets across the United States “remain firmly in sellers’ control,” according to Best Interest Financial.
“High demand and low inventory in these markets mean sellers are rarely willing to negotiate,” the study said.
These metro areas had the least favorable conditions for homebuyers, researchers found:
- Hartford, Connecticut
- San Francisco
- Chicago
- Milwaukee
- Providence, Rhode Island
- Richmond, Virginia
- Virginia Beach, Virginia
- Boston
- Fresno
- Washington, D.C.
How did study rank buyer-friendly housing markets?
Best Interest Financial examined data from real estate website Redfin for the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the United States.
The financial website based its scores on each metro area’s average sale-to-list price ratio, the percentage of active listings with price drops and the average size of the price drop as a percentage of the original value.
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