Home buyers in Bloomington are starting to see more negotiating power in the housing market as higher inventory forces sellers to work harder to attract offers.
Amanda Richardson, a Realtor with FC Tucker Bloomington, said the shift reflects persistently high mortgage rates that have hovered around 7 percent for most of the past three years.
With mortgage rates looking like they are going to come down, more people who locked in low rates during COVID are willing to sell their homes. The added inventory to the market is creating an environment where bidding wars are not as common.
In 2022, Richardson said the average list-to-sale price ratio was just over 100 percent, meaning homes were selling for more than their asking price. In Monroe County, that ratio is now under 98 percent, showing homes are selling for slightly less than their listing price on average.
“There are some homes that people are getting a little bit of a discount on,” Richardson said. “You know, when they're on the market a little longer, sellers tend to get a little more reactive and try to work with offers.”
According to Fannie Mae’s June 2025 Home Purchase Sentiment Index survey, 28 percent of respondents said it was a good time to buy a home — nearly 10 percentage points higher than a year ago. Meanwhile, 71 percent said it was a bad time to buy, down from 81 percent last June.
From January to June 2025, there were 1,038 residential homes listed in Monroe County, according to Richardson. About 66 percent sold — down from 85 percent of listings in 2022.
The Indiana Association of Realtors reported a 19 percent increase in new listings in Monroe County between January and March this year compared to last. In the same period, the number of closed sales increased by 1 percent. Looking at the past year, there has been an 8 percent increase in new listings and 4 percent increase in closed sales.
Richardson said sellers are being more lenient with negotiations now that homes are sitting on the market longer. Depending on the home price, current average days on market range from 48 to 61 days.
She said buyers are more likely to get purchasing perks like covered closing costs and repair work.
“At the end of the day, if they've already moved out, then they want to sell the house,” Richardson said.
Richardson said the ratio between buyers and sellers has helped slow pricing tactics like escalation clauses where prospective buyers offer to automatically outbid competitors. She said buyers are being more cautious about overpaying in the current high-rate environment.
In 2022, buyers would pay so much extra that they didn’t see any appreciation in their home value for two years, Richardson said. That’s not the norm anymore.
“There's kind of a market correction going on,” Richardson said.
Still, Richardson said the current market is normal, and while interest rates remain high, buyers are adjusting their expectations and budgets.
Lawrence Yun, the chief economist at the National Association of Realtors, projected interest rates would fall to 6.1 percent by 2026. Richardson said she’s optimistic about that possibility despite recent changes in the economy.
“I would like to think that interest rates will come down a little bit once things settle, and I do believe that we could see close to 6 percent next year,” she said. “I think that would be great. It would spur on a lot of different things through real estate locally.”
Interest rates are currently around 6.9 percent for a 30-year mortgage. With the average cost of a home in Monroe County being over $300,000, Richardson said the interest rate drop could save a home buyer hundreds of dollars a month on their mortgage payment.
