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Reader question: Please explain “turn the tables” in this sentence: A slowdown in home sales and prices is helping buyers begin to turn the tables on sellers. My comments: In other words the housing market is beginning to turn from what is called a seller’s market into one for buyers. A seller’s market is where there are few houses to sell and yet a lot of people willing to fork out the money to buy. In this case, the seller holds all the trump cards, so to speak, and is likely to sell properties at prices higher than usual. In the seller’s market, demand outstrips supply and therefore the supplier (seller) holds the advantage. In a buyer’s market, the reverse is true. Here, there are more sellers than there are people to buy, which situation puts the buyer at an advantage. He/she can look around more, taking their time in making a decision. In the buyer’s market, buyers are likely to get a bargain, i.e. a deal at a lower price than usual. The phrase to learn here, of course, is buyers turning the tables on sellers. To turn the tables, plural, is for everything to change. This expression originates in the game of backgammon, known as ‘tables’ games. This explanation from Phrase.org: The phrase ‘turn the tables’ derives from these games and from the practice of reversing the board so that players play from their opponent’s previous position. | 
