How to Calculate the Ratio of a Selling Price to an Asking Price

This metric conveys important information about a sales negotiation. Here's how you calculate it.

By Motley Fool Staff – Updated Apr 23, 2025 at 12:43 PM EST

Key Points

Recent data shows homes sold for 99.4% of asking price, indicating strong buyer leverage.
The sale-to-list ratio, calculated by dividing selling price by asking price, gauges negotiation power.
A deviation from a 100% sale-to-list ratio reveals market dynamics and party motivations.

Every home seller dreams of closing the sale quickly and getting a final price that's at least as high as the asking price. Conversely, a home buyer wants to negotiate the figure down as far below the asking price as possible.

In numerical terms, a seller wants a sale-to-asking price ratio of something like 105%, while a buyer prefers a ratio closer to 90%.

Loading paragraph...

A house with a Sold sign pasted over the top of a For Sale sign in a yard. — Image source: Getty Images.

Loading image...

Exactly where the two parties meet on that spectrum depends on many variables, the biggest being overall market conditions. Recently, buyers have held good leverage in these negotiations: On average, they bought homes for 99.4% of the asking price as of May 1, 2024, according to Redfin.

So, how do you calculate that ratio of selling price to asking price?

Loading paragraph...

Loading pitch...

Loading paragraph...