We’re revisiting housing inventory today because it’s one of the key sticking points that’s keeping home prices elevated and buyers wary.
Jerome Powell said last week that housing activity is bottoming and could be improving already — but recent data from top realtors make me less optimistic.
1. Get this: The housing market today has 39% fewer homes for sale than before the pandemic.
That’s according to data from housing group Redfin, who reported that in the four weeks leading to June 11, the total number of US homes for sale saw the biggest decline in 13 months.
The inventory issue isn’t likely to ease up soon.
There’s a slump in homebuilding, and new home listings just fell 23%, marking the 10th consecutive month of double-digit declines.
Mortgage rates are currently about double what they were in 2021, when ultra-low rates fueled a home-buying boom.
Now, homeowners that locked in low rates previously are unwilling to move and refinance a purchase at near-7% levels.
And Powell and co. last Wednesday indicated that there’s still room to raise borrowing costs even higher before the end of the year. That could help influence mortgage rates to go even higher this year.
“The Fed’s indication that there are more rate hikes to come is not what homebuyers want to hear,” Redfin’s Chen Zhao said.
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