March 2025 · Guide · 3 min read · by Kinan Sawar, MD — REALTOR® at Shorewest, REALTORS®
A rising share of sellers are trimming their asking prices. It’s the clearest sign buyers are regaining their footing.
Of all the cooling signals, the price cut is the most honest — because it’s the seller, not an analyst, conceding that the original number was too high.
Heading into the 2025 spring market, the share of listings with at least one price cut has climbed across much of the country, and especially in the overbuilt Sun Belt. After years of take-it-or-leave-it pricing, negotiation is back on the table.
A high and rising price-cut share tells a buyer two things: list prices are ahead of what the market will bear, and there’s room to negotiate. Pair it with rising inventory and longer days-on-market and you’ve found a genuine buyer’s market.
The metro price-cut share sits in every county’s detail panel — one of the fastest reads on who holds leverage.
Kinan Sawar, MD — REALTOR® at Shorewest, REALTORS®, serving Milwaukee and Southeast Wisconsin (Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee, Washington, Racine, Kenosha, and Walworth counties). Email: [email protected] · Phone: (618) 713-2964.
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Home values and rents are Zillow ZHVI/ZORI estimates for the named area, as of 2026-07-03; incomes and population are U.S. Census (SAIPE, Population Estimates); migration is IRS Statistics of Income. Area-level statistical estimates for information only — not an appraisal, and not financial, legal, or tax advice.