- Home prices are dropping thanks to high mortgage rates weighing on demand.
- The 30-year fixed mortgage rate edged up last week, hovering above 7%.
- Real estate experts expect affordability to slowly improve as inventory rises and borrowing costs ease.
Home prices are falling at the fastest pace in over a year, thanks to demand plunging amid stubbornly high mortgage rates, according to Redfin.
Across the US, 6.4% of sellers issued a price cut in the month leading up to May 26, the real estate listing site said in a recent report. That’s the highest percentage of sellers that have slashed prices since November 2022, when the 30-year fixed mortgage rate spiked past 7% for the first time in more than 20 years.
Price cuts have been steep enough to lower the average US home price, which recently notched a fresh record. The median price for a home fell $3,000 last week to $416,623, according to Redfin data. That’s the first decline recorded so far in 2024, though home prices are still up around 4% year-over-year, it noted.
“Together, those metrics suggest sale-price growth could soften in the coming months as persistently high mortgage rates turn off homebuyers,” the report said.
The 30-year fixed mortgage rate has ticked higher, spiking past 7% in the last week of May, according to according to Freddie Mac data.
www.businessinsider.com/home-prices-falling-us-housing-market-outlook-crash-mortage-rates-2024-6?amp