Buyers' and Sellers' Markets: A Simple Rational Expectations Search Model of the Housing Market

The terms buyers' market and sellers' market are commonly used in contexts that most economists would characterize as excess supply and excess demand. It is puzzling, however, that in many instances the press and general public are all aware that it is a buyers' or sellers' market. Are these markets really that inefficient? We offer definitions of buyers' and sellers' markets that are consistent with a full rational expectations equilibrium in a simple general equilibrium search model of a heterogeneous durable goods market.