Sales of existing homes slipped 4.9% in January, but year-over-year sales were up 2% as high prices and mortgage rates keep some potential buyers on the sidelines, including first-time buyers.
Existing home sales retreated in January, the National Association of Realtors said Friday. Total existing-home sales – completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – dropped 4.9% from December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.08 million in January. Year-over-year, sales gained 2% (up from 4 million in January 2024).
So who can afford to buy a home these days?
ReplyDeleteBlackwater.
DeleteI sold mine in january-finally. Took 10 months. It's a bad market for sellers and buyers alike.
ReplyDeleteI sold in 2006. Five months on the market. At the top of the market, before the ax fell. Eleven straight years of 22% gains year over year. Escaped by a whisker.
DeleteWife initiated divorce, me wondering just what am I breaking my back for? So yes, escaped.
Then again in 2019, solo this time. Three months on the market. If I had waited nine months more I'd have gotten 40% higher sale price. But I was plumb tuckered. Still did pretty darn good.
Since then I've been looking for a stable economy in which to make a big ticket purchase.
Maybe I'm too picky. Maybe once bitten, twice shy. Maybe my trust in everything has flatlined.
E, all of the above.
I usually see big opportunity in down markets. But not this time 'round. Myopic and beaten, I guess.
Folks out here in the West are still trying to sell coal for the price of diamonds. I DON'T see a lot of movement. I DO see a lot of "FOR SALE" signs bleaching in the desert sun. I also see LOTS of "OPEN HOUSE" signs on the weekends. RE agents HATE this, as they actually have to WORK to talk people into buying something they can't afford. Time was, houses were sold as soon as they listed and before the signs ever went up. The "asking" prices have gone down a few grand, but given the already ASTRONOMICAL prices of houses, a few grand might as well be a few cents. It's like we're perpetually on the precipice of a housing crash, but nothing's given it that final nudge. Thing is, EVERYONE knows it's coming. The sellers and RE agents are trying like hell to unload, but the buyers are waiting things out, KNOWING the prices are going to plummet. This isn't going to end well... again...
ReplyDeleteCut off immigration and watch RE prices fall. I don't mean the poors streaming across the border. I mean China and India, largely. American land for Americans only, then we'll a massive market correction.
DeleteIn my const contracting days, I worked with realtors. My opinion is they are the laziest, most demanding, whiniest, most ignorant, least knowledgeable this side of scummy used car salesmen. A bit lower than law sharks but only because in law one must actually know something.
DeleteThe topper is they think they're beautiful.
Mention on YouTube about immigrants and higher housing costs and your comment will get censored.
DeleteHere in the ADKs of upstate New York real estate agents have overpriced homes during the Covid period for the average citizen. Blood sucking pigs for doing it and idiots for paying the higher prices. Most aren’t even lived in year round. Never again will the average guy be able to buy a home or his family.
ReplyDelete