The housing market is witnessing both a rise in active inventory and a simultaneous increase in the number of homes being pulled off the market.
According to the Realtor.com June Housing Trends report, the active inventory soared 28.1% year-over-year to over 1 million active listings, a post-pandemic high but still about 13% below pre-pandemic norms. Yet at the same time, delistings rose 47% year-over-year in May and have trended 35% higher year-to-date.
Delistings are growing faster than active inventory at 31.5%, which the report attributed to sellers growing impatient with their ability to sell their properties. Many sellers tried to speed up sales with discounting – during June, 20.7% of listings saw price reductions, the highest share for any June since at least 2016 and the sixth consecutive month of growing price cuts. The national median list price held steady at $440,950, up by a scant 0.1% from last year.
“This year’s market is a study in contrasts,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com. “Buyers are seeing more choices than they’ve had in years, but many sellers, anchored by peak price expectations and upheld by strong equity positions, are deciding to step back if they don’t get their number. Looking forward, this dynamic will affect whether we tip from a balanced to buyer’s market, and if so, how quickly that happens.”
There are some things happening in U.S. due to the threats against immigrants that are effecting real estate. Landlords are finding homes, apartments, townhomes vacant this month. Tenants are disappearing and they are not all from Mexico. A landlord told me that this month 27 of his 142 rental properties are suddenly vacant with no notice. Tenants were from middle eastern countries, europe, Australia and Mexico.
Another landlord told me today that he has 16 vacant homes this month out of 60 in a rental community he built. Tenants that disappeared have one thing in common, they’re from other countries. Said that he’s planning on trying to sell some of the homes to lessen the number of rentals. He found the homes vacant when he couldn’t contact tenants on Monday. This is a nice clean rental community.
Think of how many residential units in the United States have been sold for rentals. While they artificially held interest rates low 2017-2021, large investors, hedge funds, REITs, etc. bought residential for rentals in historic numbers. They had one of two choices for investment with interest rates too low: Stock Market or Real Estate.
Or, perhaps it has to do with the increasing number of price reductions, expired listings, and delistings. All of which leads to lower home prices, and sensible people, immigrants included, are now finding it makes more sense to purchase rather than pay the high rents. It’s about time!
INTEREST RATES STILL WAY UP THERE FOR NEW HOME BUYERS. VERY DISCOURAGING FOR THEM. I’M A REALTOR AND SEE IT DAILY…. PRICES ARE COMING DOWN EVERYWHERE STILL THE HOMES ARE SITTING FOR THE MOST PART. HIGH END CONDO’S WITH CASH ONLY BUYERS ARE STILL GOING WELL.