Posted on 02/22/2025 8:59:05 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Typically, you’d think more homes being taken off the market is good news for real estate agents and analysts… But, with a surplus of new homes for sale and a shortage of buyers, US properties are increasingly being delisted to be moved on from, rather than moved into.
Data from analytics firm CoreLogic, reported by the WSJ last Thursday, showed a significant jump in housing delistings at the end of last year, with almost 73,000 homes being taken off the market in December — a 64% increase year-on-year, the highest level in almost a decade — after failing to find a buyer. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) also found that pending home sales retracted by 5.5% that month, after four successive months of growth.
Though this follows the trend that more houses tend to be pulled during winter months — fewer people generally go house-hunting as the year comes to a close, with sellers often relisting in the spring — the uptick is further proof that the US housing market is struggling, even with more properties becoming available.
Bye-the-buy
There’s been much chatter about a Great American housing shortage over the past decade. A post-pandemic house building slump, combined with more people staying put to keep their cheap mortgages, has kept US house prices at record highs despite rising interest rates.
However, per the WSJ, data from the National Association of Home Builders showed that the number of completed new homes grew 46% year-over-year to 118K in December, and the NAR also found that the number of homes for sale that same month was at 1.15 million (+16%).
So, if more homes are available… Why are sales still hovering near 30-year lows? Well, the demand part of the housing supply and demand equation is still being weighed down by two factors: affordability and security. Indeed, CoreLogic recently reported that home prices increased nationally by 3.4% in Dec ‘24, while 30-year fixed mortgage rates have inched back up towards 7%.
I would love to buy a home, but I just can’t afford it. My husband lost his job and I don’t make enough on my own.
That and I don’t want to stay in Illinois. It’ll be a while before I have a place of my own.
The whole problem is very simple. Government has driven the price of a home out of reach. Democrats did this.
So their donors could get rich.
Guess what, the party is over.
Y’all want the people to live in Soviet style housing,
to save the environment.
Guess what, that tactic will fail just as it did
in Russia.
The average credit card debt keeps increasing. When the average homeowner is up to his neck in debt, he will have to sell his own
Similar to 2008, the housing market will crash as people MUST sell to survive. Right now, the prices are so high there are no buyers.
There’s always a buyer at the right price.
I sent you freepmail.
Sure, if you're trying to buy it in Pacific Heights or the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Rural homes are cheaper. Not impossible. Some not even difficult. Renting, and never building equity -- that's difficult!
“Rural homes are cheaper. Not impossible.”
I live in extremely rural Hawaii. Closest Costco is over an hours drive away. I’m not selling but
you would have some difficulty paying market value
for my two homes, shop, and acreage with ocean views.
Maybe in Hawaii “rural” and “ocean view” aren’t mutually exclusive, but I don’t go there. :)
“Maybe in Hawaii “rural” and “ocean view” aren’t mutually exclusive, but I don’t go there. :)”
well if you ever do visit, stay on the Big island.
Avoid Honolulu at all costs!
Squatter bait. Good luck!
100 percent correct. The average age of homebuyers today is 59 years. First time buyers average is 39.
You own a home in IL, the state and local property taxes will make you poor.
“100 percent correct. The average age of home buyers today is 59 years. First time buyers average is 39.”
When I moved to Hawaii I paid cash for my house and land
My age was 44. That was my rule when I moved to one of the most expensive places to live in the USA,
No mortgages.
I bought my first house at age 24.
VA backed loan in WA state.
profit from that house paid for my Hawaii house.
I complained the whole time I was in the military.
housing, food, crap duty stations.
But as an old man that was the best job I ever had,
long term in hindsight.
I suppose military got better because us old farts support
the young guys now serving, or Congress faces our wrath.
Supply will probably increase due to illegals being deported.
Not only the right price but the right interest rate. With Trump in office, I believe many are waiting for rates to drop.
As they say. The best cure for high prices is high prices. Demand will fall, prices will fall. I don’t believe Trump can lower rates quickly and fight inflation. If you remember the Reagan /Volcker years, it took at least 5 years of high interest rates to tame the Jimmy Carter inflation beast.
The real estate market is totally our of whack after 10 years of “monetary stimulus” and it’s going to take a while for it to re-balance.
Jimmy Carter’s devastating interest rates were between 16% and 20%, big difference between then and now. We are currently between 6.5% and 7%. When the rates drop to 5% and under, which they will, the market will adjust quickly.
I wonder if this will be a green light for squatters to move in?
I wonder if this will be a green light for squatters to move in?
*********************************
They already are.
The squatter movement/trend is just beginning, and will grow much larger as we advance through the decade.
The best way to protect your property is to have people living & working on it.
Empty real estate has neither.
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