Major Home-Ownership Costs Require 30 Percent of Average National Wage in Third Quarter of 2022; But Portion of Wages Needed for Home Ownership Dips as Home Prices Decrease Quarterly, to $340,000; Historic Affordability Remains Worse Than Average Almost Everywhere Across Nation
As mortgage rates go up and the housing market softens, more people are canceling home purchases. In August, over 15 percent of home purchase agreements were canceled—the second month in a row, according to real estate brokerage Redfin. Compared to a year ago, cancellations are up 3 percent.
Mortgage rates jumped more than a quarter point this week and remain at the highest level in 14 years, offering no relief to sidelined homebuyers.
Just months ago, the housing market remained in overdrive: surging home prices, historically low interest rates and unrelenting demand. However, data now suggests to some experts that the market is in a “housing recession.”
Rent prices in the U.S. are rising at the fastest pace in decades, slamming U.S. households across the country, according to data from the Bank of America Institute.
A high share of home sellers dropped their asking price in July, particularly in pandemic boomtowns, as they struggled to match their expectations with the reality of the cooling housing market.
Another month, another plunge in housing.
Hot on the heels of the latest catastrophic homebuilder sentiment print and plunging single-family starts and permits, analysts expected existing home sales to accelerate their recent decline with a 4.9% MoM drop in July.
Existing-home sales sagged for the sixth straight month in July, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. All four major U.S. regions recorded month-over-month and year-over-year sales declines.
The housing market is slowing as higher mortgage rates sideline many prospective homebuyers. With competition declining, the house hunters who are still in the market are enjoying newfound bargaining power, a striking contrast from just a few months ago, when buyers often had to pull out every stop in order to win.
Consumer confidence in the housing market dropped to the lowest level since 2011, as both prospective buyers and sellers have become more pessimistic, according to a monthly survey released Monday by Fannie Mae.