Buyer’s and seller’s markets are determined primarily by the amount of available inventory (houses on the market).
A seller’s market would have less than five months of inventory. A balanced market would be five to seven months inventory, and a buyer’s market would be seven or more months of inventory. The high inventory drives the prices lower. So the combination of a large inventory and lower prices result in the “buyer’s market.”
Typically in a buyer’s market mortgage interest rates would rise. However, this buyer’s market is also enjoying historically low interest rates… which really does make it a great time to buy!