Single-family home sales fell 16.6% in April to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 591,000, the slowest rate of sales since April 2020, MarketWatch reports. Since the end of 2021, interest rates have risen 200 basis points, chipping away at a more cautious pool of homebuyers and putting added pressure on builders. Current market conditions are causing buyers to pull back, and that slowdown will eventually lead to price reductions and create more balance after years of tight competition, inadequate supply, and grueling price volatility, experts say.
“The new home sales report released today by the Census Bureau clearly points to a housing market that has turned,” said Doug Duncan, chief economist at Fannie Mae.
”The sales pace in April was similar in level to the slowdown that occurred the last time the Federal Reserve engaged in a tightening regimen in 2018,” he added.
”A sharper downturn in residential investment is now underway,” the Fannie Mae FNMA, 0.95% economist said, adding that he’ll revise downward his own sales projections.
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