The summer weather may be heating up, but the housing market is keeping cool even during peak homebuying season. Home prices began correcting at the close of 2022 as elevated interest rates forced a slowdown after years of record home appreciation and speedy sales, but a shortage of housing inventory is keeping costs high in summer 2023.
Today’s sellers aren’t motivated to list their homes and refinance at today’s 7% mortgage rate, and buyers aren’t willing to up their budgets for the few homes coming onto the market. That standstill is causing a market slowdown this summer, one that Realtor.com says could last into the start of 2024.
The biggest challenge confronting the summer housing market is there simply aren’t enough homes for sale.
The number of new listings is down 25.7% from June 2022 and down 28.8% from June 2019, according to Realtor.com data. And while there are technically more homes for sale than there were a year ago, this is because some properties just aren’t selling.
“Homes are sitting for longer. We’re just not seeing as many homes cycle through the market this year,” says Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale. “As we move into late summer and early fall, we might see even fewer homes on the market.”
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