06/21/2024
A few interesting stats I came across this morning...
1.) The U.S. housing market has been mired in a slump going back to 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. Existing home sales sank to a nearly 30-year low in 2023 as the average rate on a 30-year mortgage surged to a 23-year high of 7.79%, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac.
2.) This year things have not been better. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in May 2024 for the third straight month as rising mortgage rates and record-high prices discouraged many prospective homebuyers during what's traditionally the housing market’s busiest period of the year.
3.) “I thought that we would actually see a recovery this spring —- we are not seeing it," said Lawrence Yun, the National Association of Realtor's chief economist.
The market is weird right now... homes are starting to sit on the market for longer periods of time. My feeling is that there are not a lot of buyers out there - almost seems like a lot of people have given up on buying homes unless they are in life situations in which they have to buy.
Even though the number of homes being sold is trending downward, the price of homes continues to rise. Average sales price nationwide increased compared with the same month a year earlier for the 11th month in a row. The national median sales price rose 5.8% from the same time a year earlier to $419,300, an all-time high on records going back to 1999. It's also up 51% from five years ago.
Crazy times. Normally when demand decreases, prices decrease - it is basic supply and demand theory but that is not happening - yet.
We may be in the beginning stages of a shift away from a strong seller's market to one that is more balanced. Time will tell... the rest of this year should be interesting.
