A new report from real estate brokerage Redfin indicates that, despite elevated mortgage rates, homebuyers continue to leave expensive metro areas like New York and Seattle for more affordable housing options in cities like Miami and Phoenix.
House prices are sliding, and sales are plunging as the Federal Reserve hits the pause button on quantitative easing this year with the most aggressive interest rate hikes in four decades to cool the red-hot housing market spurred by low interest rates and tight inventories during the pandemic.
Home sales and listings in September both slumped the most on record with the exception of the early months of the pandemic as rapidly rising mortgage rates prompted both buyers and sellers to stay put, according to a new report from Redfin (redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage.
And the hits just keep on coming for the US housing sector. Three months after hitting the highest level in 14 years, on Thursday mortgage rates hit a fresh post-financial crisis high when they topped 6%, a jolt to home buyers who last year were paying less than half that.
Nearly every community in the U.S. is feeling the effects of an overvalued housing market, particularly in some smaller cities in states like Idaho and Tennessee where many sought out a new home during the pandemic.