(The Epoch Times)—As of the week ending July 19, homes are sitting on the market for eight days longer, compared to a year ago, as buyers remain on the sidelines, according to a July 24 Weekly Housing Trends report on the real estate listings website Realtor.
The median time homes sat on the market hit 58 days nationally, which happened amid active inventory jumping nearly 25 percent year-over-year, the 89th consecutive week of annual gains.
“There were more than 1 million homes for sale again last week, marking the 11th week in a row over the threshold, and the highest inventory level since November 2019,” the report said.
Despite more inventory and choices for buyers, high home costs kept them at bay, it added.
“The lack of significant buyer response to substantial gains in for-sale inventory has pushed many sellers to reduce prices. The price reduction share reached roughly 1 in 5 homes in June, the highest June share in the data’s history.”
The report noted high mortgage rates as one of the reasons why many buyers are unable to take advantage of the current situation.
The weekly average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has remained above the 6 percent level since mid-September 2022, according to data from Freddie Mac. Since the beginning of this year, rates have remained above 6.5 percent every single week.
Meanwhile, the median sales price of new homes sold in the United States was $401,800 in June, up from $325,500 five years ago, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Since October 2021, the price has mostly remained above the $400,000 level.
This persistence in elevated home prices and mortgage rates creates an extremely difficult affordability challenge for prospective homebuyers.
In a July 17 post, the National Association of Realtors predicted that if the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rates were to drop to 6 percent, then around 5.5 million more households would find the median-priced home affordable.
If rates were to hit this level, around 10 percent of these households are expected to buy homes within 12 to 18 months, the association said. At present, the mortgage rate stands at 6.74 percent.
Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at real estate data company Bright MLS, said in a July 24 commentary that mortgage rates are “not going to be anywhere close to hitting 6 percent this year.”
She suggested that the Federal Reserve may not bring down its benchmark interest rates in the near term, which would provide support for retaining mortgage rate levels.
The Fed’s interest rate has remained unchanged in a range of 4.25 to 4.5 percent since last year. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has also given no indication that any rate cut is on the horizon.
In addition to rates, other factors are also creating sluggishness in the housing market, Sturtevant said.
“In a recent survey conducted by Bright MLS, we found that compared to a year ago, fewer buyers are holding back because of high mortgage rates. A growing share cited other financial issues and general economic uncertainty as the reasons they are not buying this year,” she wrote.
“So while 6 percent might seem to be a magic number for the housing market, there are a lot of other factors that are driving home buying and selling decisions in this shifting market.”
Meanwhile, buyers stand to gain from the current buyer-seller dynamics in the market, real estate brokerage Redfin said in a June 16 statement.
Home sellers are now outnumbering buyers, with many willing to negotiate and offer concessions, it said, adding that some sellers may also be willing to accept lower down-payments.
“The buyers who are moving forward today are being very careful with their finances because, with housing costs near record highs, they’re typically spending a big portion of their paycheck to buy a home,” said Fernanda Kriese, a Redfin Premier agent in Las Vegas.
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