Hey maybe it’s just a blip.
You know, a short term weather-related thing
From the article:
Pending sales of existing US homes slumped to a record low in January as severe winter weather slowed activity and consumers balked at high prices and mortgage rates ahead of the vital spring selling season.
A gauge of contract signings on previously owned houses slipped 4.6% in January to 70.6, the lowest in National Association of Realtors data back to 2001, the group said Thursday. The decline was larger than the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg, who expected a 0.9% decrease.
Contract signings tumbled 9.2% in the South — the biggest home-selling region in the country — parts of which experienced historic snowfall. That marked the biggest drop since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. . . . .
The median sale price of a previously owned home in the US was $396,900 last month, according to NAR data, up 49% from five years earlier.
Aside from the South’s big decline, contract signings had modest decreases in the Midwest and West, with the Northeast seeing a small gain in January. . . . .
1 Like
I think lot of it is people are sitting on there homes because of replacing homes or moving up is costly. Nobody wants to move from their low interest payments.
Right now where I’m at not many homes are for sale.
So I"m thinking it’s not buyers market or seller market.
2 Likes
You may be right, but they are sitting on imaginary equity.
A home, like anything else, is worth what someone is willing and able to pay for it.
This chart says the buyers are gonna be on strike for a while. sooner or later that will have a price-dampening effect.
What happens when your state has like 20-30% more listings,
but the number of sales is at an all-time record low (worse than COVID worse than 2008)?
Then prices drop. I don’t see that as a big problem for your primary residence. Unless you planned on moving out of state. Or you’re looking to sell a second home.
hat tip.
It may not be a big problem (I happen to think it is), but
whatever imaginary number people have in their minds about their homes value, their progress toward savings goals etc, is gonna get a lot smaller.
Thing 1:
“I owe $300,000 on my $600,000 house. I’m gonna retire in 15 years. Also because I have a lot of equity I can do this and I can do that and I don’t have to save a lot.”
Thing 2:
“I owe $300,000 on my $400,000 house. I’m want to retire in 15 year, but I dunno. Plus because I don’t have much equity I can’t do this and I can’t do that.”
Thing 1 is not thing 2
That’s a lot like saying “the stock market just dropped 30%, but it does not matter unless you were planning to sell.”
In fact many Americans have more tied up in their house than in their stock accounts.
Thing 1 and Thing 2 is absolutely a reality you have to consider. The reason why I wasn’t thinking of that is because I do not owe anything on my house. When I hear a situation, I often get carried away in what I would do, or how I would think. Or those in my situation. But yeah, If you have a hefty mortgage, there is no denying thing 1 is far better.
1 Like
