Interest rates are stuck. Inventory is swelling. Buyers are gone. More than half of all homes now sell below asking. It’s the weakest housing market since 2012.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/housing-market-craters-56-homes-123114860.html
Rents are falling, vacancies hitting records. National apartment rents dropped 0.8% year over year in July. The vacancy rate just hit an all-time high as the 2023 construction boom floods the market with 600,000 new units. Austin rents are down 6.8%, with Denver and Phoenix not far behind.
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/real-estate/apartment-rents-drop-july-vacancies-move-multiyear-high-rcna222073
Sellers slash prices, but buyers still don’t show. It’s not lack of demand, it’s lack of affordability. Mortgage rates remain stuck above 6%, insurance premiums keep rising, and uncertainty weighs heavier than both. Oxford Economics says even a 1% rate cut could thaw the freeze, but the Fed isn’t moving.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/even-1-mortgage-rate-drop-170910780.html
Locked-in homeowners refuse to budge. Most are sitting tight on 3% mortgages and won’t trade up. First-time buyers are going solo, 73% bought without outside help, but more than half admit they couldn’t cover payments if they lost their job. It’s a market built on fragile ground.
https://raleighrealty.com/blog/emerging-trends-among-americas-first-time-homebuyers
The cracks are spreading. 40% of FHA borrowers missed payments last quarter. Foreclosures are up 12%. Inventory climbed 13%. Prices are falling in 60% of metro areas. Sellers outnumber buyers by 34%, yet homes still sit untouched.
This isn’t cooling. It’s unraveling.