If you thought the bad news about the housing market was over, think again. New data shows that existing home sales are on track to be at their lowest since 2008. Eesh.
Here’s Five Fast Facts About Existing Home sales:
- 📉 Down Down Down - The National Association of Retailers (NAR) reports that home sales have dropped 18% and are on course for the worst year since 2008 and possibly the worst since 1995. That’s the same year the first Toy Story movie hit theaters (Andy was only seven).
- 📈 Up Up Up - Looking closer, the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage recently topped 7.5%. Purchase mortgages dropped to that 1995 level.
- 🏠 Four Times - The NAR expects the Federal Reserve to cut rates four times next year, but the average rate will stay at 6.3%, which is still considerably higher than the last 10 years.
- 🏡 You Silly Kids - As for millennial home buyers, 38% of them are using family money for down payments. That’s given birth to the (seriously) awesome term “Nepo-Homebuyers.”
- 🏚️ Maybe? - All hope is not lost, however: the NAR has predicted that existing home sales would increase by 13% next year. They cite pent-up demand in places like Austin (TX), Nashville, Philadelphia, Portland (ME), and even the Washington DC area.
🔥Bottom line: It’s still expensive to buy a house. But who is to blame in this situation? Realtors? Boomers? The Fed? The Pandemic? The answer is all of them combined into a Voltron of High Prices.
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