It’s a buyer’s market…sort of. Last month, there were about 500,000 more people selling homes in the US than there were people trying to buy them, according to a report Redfin released yesterday. This is the biggest gap between buyers and sellers since the real estate company started collecting data in 2013. And while the new numbers look pretty good for anyone thinking of lowballing on a 2-bed, 2-bath ranch, taking more data into consideration complicates things.
The good news for buyers: In addition to the glut of homesellers, the number of brand-new unsold single-family homes rose in April to 117,000—the highest it’s been since July 2009. And homeowners who were dragging their feet on selling so they could cling to low mortgage rates are starting to move. Redfin expects housing prices to fall about 1% this year as a result of increased inventory.
But it’s still really expensive to buy a house. The median home price jumped 1.6% YoY last month and is sitting at $431,931. Meanwhile, mortgage rates for a 30-year fixed loan (the most common) are still hovering just under 7%. The chief economist of the National Association of Realtors said lower mortgage rates are the key to getting buyers to buy homes again.
Buyers are nervous: Economic uncertainty is freezing up the market even more. About 1 in 4 Americans said they ditched plans to make a major purchase, like a house, because of tariffs, according to an April Redfin survey.—MM
This report was originally published by Morning Brew.