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After a period of sustained high interest rates, the real estate market has been defined by a “lock-in” effect, where homeowners with low-rate mortgages have been hesitant to sell, leading to limited inventory and high prices. However, with the Federal Reserve widely anticipated to lower its benchmark interest rate this fall, the housing landscape could […]

What Happens If Rates Fall This Fall?

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Fannie Mae’s Economic and Strategic Research (ESR) Group has lowered its forecast for US existing single-family home sales in 2025 to 4.14 million units, down from the 4.24 million units projected in the previous month’s outlook. The revision was published in the group’s June 2025 Economic and Housing Outlook. The updated forecast reflects revised expectations […]

Fannie Mae lowers home sales forecast

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For the past several years, home sellers have been in the driver’s seat, able to command high prices for homes, often selling quickly and with multiple offers.  Times appear to be changing. According to data recently released by Redfin, nationally there are currently 500,000 more home sellers than homebuyers.  While somewhat surprisingly, this has yet […]

Signs of Shifting Towards a Buyer’s Market

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New home sales jumped in March despite still-high mortgage rates and the beginning of a decline in consumer confidence stemming from tariff fallout that is slowing the existing home market. The number of new single-family homes sold in March reached 724,000 on a seasonally adjusted annual basis, a figure that’s 7.4% higher than February’s and […]

March New Home Sales Make a Surprising Jump Led by Affordable Inventory

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Starter homes are getting even smaller. Inflation is hard-felt by typical Americans, even if it seems to be mostly under control on paper. It’s hit the housing market too, only in the form of shrinkflation. Homes are getting smaller—and more costly. In fact, they’re hitting levels we haven’t seen since 2009 and 2010, after the Great Recession. […]

Starter homes are shrinking in size—but not in price

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Potential homebuyers are responding to lower mortgage rates and a higher supply of homes for sale. That fueled mortgage demand last week, as consumers looking to refinance pulled back. Total mortgage application volume rose 2.8% compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index. An additional adjustment was made for […]

Homebuyer demand for mortgages jumped 6%, as interest rates fell to the lowest level in over a month

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If you own a home, congratulations: You likely gained six figures in equity since 2019. “A typical homeowner accumulated $147,000 in housing wealth in the last five years,” said National Association of Realtors® Chief Economist Lawrence Yun in the latest quarterly report. That’s a profit of $29,400 per year—nearly half of the average U.S. salary. But even with the rapid price appreciation over […]

Homeowners Have Gained Almost $150K in Wealth Over the Past 5 Years

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Existing Home Sales, which reflect closings on existing homes, fell for the secondstraight month in September, down 1% from August and 3.5% from a year ago. The3.84-million-unit pace represents a 14-year low as NAR’s Chief Economist, LawrenceYun, noted that “home sales have been essentially stuck at around a four-million-unitpace for the past 12 months.” Regarding […]

Existing Home Sales Slide for Second Straight Month

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On average, 40% of builders’ single-family home sales so far in 2024 have been made to first-time home buyers, according to the most recent NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index survey (HMI).  That share has doubled since 2016, when only 19% of builders’ sales went to first-time buyers. Our limited time-series on this topic in the […]

First-Time Buyer Share for New Homes is Slipping

Market Update