A “too sold” sign on a house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, on Friday, August 16, 2024.
Joe Lamberti | Bloomberg | Getty pictures
The US housing market continues to weaken because potential buyers stubbornly high mortgage interests, increased prices and limited range of entries are exposed to.
According to the National Association of Realors, sales of houses previously owned decreased in January in January in January in January to 4.08 million units to seasonal basis. Analysts expected a decline of 2.6%.
Sales were 2% higher than January 2024, but still runs at a low of around 15 years.
This reading is based on closings, so that contracts were probably signed in November and December when the mortgage interests were due to over 7% to the range of 6%.
“Despite several rounds of short -term interest reductions through the Federal Reserve, the mortgage interests have been moving for several months to move for several months,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the NAR. “In combination with increased real estate prices, the affordability of apartments remains a major challenge.”
At the end of January, 1.18 million houses were offered for sale, which was increased by 3.5% compared to December and 17%. Although the inventory of a 3.5-month offer is in the current sales pace. A six -month offer is considered balanced between buyer and seller.
The average house for sale last month spent 41 days on the market. This has been the longest since January 2020, before the Kovid.
The close offer continues to be printed prices. The median prize of a home sold in January was $ 396,900, an increase of 4.8% compared to the previous year and the highest price ever for the month of January. All four regions that were pursued by Nar recorded price profits. About 15% of the houses sold above the list price, which remained practically unchanged both in the pervere month and in the same period of 16% last year.
“More housing offers enables greatly qualified buyers to go into the market,” added Yun. “For many consumers, both an increased inventory and lower mortgage interest are required so that they can buy another house or become homeowners for the first time.”
All-Cash offers 29% of sales, which is historically high, but of 32% in the previous year. First buyers still have problems and make up 28% of sales. This proportion is unchanged compared to a year ago, but is far below historical average values of around 40%.
The turnover of home -made homes is significantly better at higher prices and lower prices. For example, sales of houses between 100,000 and 250,000 US dollars were 1.2% compared to the previous year, while the houses increased by almost 27% in the price of over 1 million US dollars compared to the previous year.
Brokers report that buyer traffic in January was weak.
“Brokers make more signs for themselves, but buyers don't come,” said Yun.