Despite the heat, real estate’s red-hot tear is, at long last, cooling off.
All four market indicators: prices, new listings, days on the market, and mortgage rates, are suggesting that the market might be balancing out.
Given things are changing fast, here’s the information you need right now to navigate today’s treacherous market.
Weekly Housing Trends
1. Asking prices are still up, but getting cut left and right. The latest June data from Realtor.com® places the median home price nationwide at a record-setting $450,000. And, for the week ending July 23, the median listing price continued its 32nd straight week of double-digit growth, shooting up by 16.6% over last year. However, these sky-high asking prices are just that: an ask. And buyers just aren’t biting like they used to. As a result, the portion of home sellers who resorted to cutting their price in June doubled to 14.9% from 7.6% last year.
2. Fewer homes are going up for sale. The number of new listings on the market dropped by 6% year over year for the week ending July 23—that’s the third straight week of decline. This means homebuyers have fewer properties to check out, although inventory overall is up by 30% over a year ago.
3. The pace of home sales has hit a turning point. For the week ending July 23, homes lingered on the market for the same amount of time as last year. While the latest monthly figures show homes getting snapped up within 32 days, this breakneck pace seems to be finally bottoming out.
4. Mortgage rates dipped. According to Freddie Mac, for the week ending July 28, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate dropped to 5.3%—down from the previous week’s average of 5.54%.
Yet whether this momentary reprieve for homebuyers will last is anyone’s guess. Adding to the turmoil, the Federal Reserve approved yet another interest rate hike on Wednesday of three-quarters of a percentage point—the fourth increase in five months—in its ongoing fight to curb inflation by dampening Americans’ desire to spend (or borrow, as most do for housing).
Source: Old Republic Title
