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"US Housing Recalibration: Elevated Rates, Inventory Shift, and Cautious Consumers"
The US housing industry over the past 48 hours is showing visible signs of recalibration, with **elevated mortgage rates, growing inventory, softening prices, and increasingly cautious consumer behavior** defining current conditions. As of July 22, 2025, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate hovered between 6.62 and 6.82 percent, marking only a slight dip from last week. These persistently high rates continue to challenge affordability and deter many potential buyers, pushing the market into what analysts describe as a “frozen state” where both home sales and new construction are subdued.
Housing inventory has finally started to improve after years of severe shortages. The number of homes for sale is now up 20 to 30 percent over last summer, recently surpassing one million nationally for the first time since 2019. Yet, inventory still sits about 10 to 15 percent below pre-pandemic levels. Increased listings are partly due to more sellers re-entering the market and homes spending longer durations unsold, especially outside the Northeast and Midwest where supply remains exceptionally tight. The South and West have seen the most robust inventory gains, aided by continued new construction.
Home prices are largely flat, with national averages up around 2.2 to 2.9 percent year-over-year, the slowest growth since before the pandemic. Recent data points to the median U.S. asking price at $407,000, and the median sale price at $399,633, but the pace has slowed. Sellers have begun lowering asking prices, and some are choosing to rent rather than sell. Buyer demand remains sluggish, with existing-home sales at a nine-month low and single-family housing starts and permits down to the lowest levels since mid-2024. As a result, 38 percent of builders cut prices in July, up from 29 percent in April.
Notably, the rental market and multifamily housing remain resilient, with apartment occupancy rates above 92 percent, driven by ongoing affordability challenges in homeownership. Industry leaders are responding by holding prices firm, slowing new builds, and in the case of office-focused REITs, cutting dividends to preserve liquidity. Compared to earlier this year, the market now faces sharper affordability constraints, rising inventory but weakening demand, and new stress signals that some economists warn could prompt broader economic drag if mortgage rate relief does not materialize soon.
For great deals today, check out https://amzn.to/44ci4hQ
Housing inventory has finally started to improve after years of severe shortages. The number of homes for sale is now up 20 to 30 percent over last summer, recently surpassing one million nationally for the first time since 2019. Yet, inventory still sits about 10 to 15 percent below pre-pandemic levels. Increased listings are partly due to more sellers re-entering the market and homes spending longer durations unsold, especially outside the Northeast and Midwest where supply remains exceptionally tight. The South and West have seen the most robust inventory gains, aided by continued new construction.
Home prices are largely flat, with national averages up around 2.2 to 2.9 percent year-over-year, the slowest growth since before the pandemic. Recent data points to the median U.S. asking price at $407,000, and the median sale price at $399,633, but the pace has slowed. Sellers have begun lowering asking prices, and some are choosing to rent rather than sell. Buyer demand remains sluggish, with existing-home sales at a nine-month low and single-family housing starts and permits down to the lowest levels since mid-2024. As a result, 38 percent of builders cut prices in July, up from 29 percent in April.
Notably, the rental market and multifamily housing remain resilient, with apartment occupancy rates above 92 percent, driven by ongoing affordability challenges in homeownership. Industry leaders are responding by holding prices firm, slowing new builds, and in the case of office-focused REITs, cutting dividends to preserve liquidity. Compared to earlier this year, the market now faces sharper affordability constraints, rising inventory but weakening demand, and new stress signals that some economists warn could prompt broader economic drag if mortgage rate relief does not materialize soon.
For great deals today, check out https://amzn.to/44ci4hQ
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By Quiet. PleaseThe US housing industry over the past 48 hours is showing visible signs of recalibration, with **elevated mortgage rates, growing inventory, softening prices, and increasingly cautious consumer behavior** defining current conditions. As of July 22, 2025, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate hovered between 6.62 and 6.82 percent, marking only a slight dip from last week. These persistently high rates continue to challenge affordability and deter many potential buyers, pushing the market into what analysts describe as a “frozen state” where both home sales and new construction are subdued.
Housing inventory has finally started to improve after years of severe shortages. The number of homes for sale is now up 20 to 30 percent over last summer, recently surpassing one million nationally for the first time since 2019. Yet, inventory still sits about 10 to 15 percent below pre-pandemic levels. Increased listings are partly due to more sellers re-entering the market and homes spending longer durations unsold, especially outside the Northeast and Midwest where supply remains exceptionally tight. The South and West have seen the most robust inventory gains, aided by continued new construction.
Home prices are largely flat, with national averages up around 2.2 to 2.9 percent year-over-year, the slowest growth since before the pandemic. Recent data points to the median U.S. asking price at $407,000, and the median sale price at $399,633, but the pace has slowed. Sellers have begun lowering asking prices, and some are choosing to rent rather than sell. Buyer demand remains sluggish, with existing-home sales at a nine-month low and single-family housing starts and permits down to the lowest levels since mid-2024. As a result, 38 percent of builders cut prices in July, up from 29 percent in April.
Notably, the rental market and multifamily housing remain resilient, with apartment occupancy rates above 92 percent, driven by ongoing affordability challenges in homeownership. Industry leaders are responding by holding prices firm, slowing new builds, and in the case of office-focused REITs, cutting dividends to preserve liquidity. Compared to earlier this year, the market now faces sharper affordability constraints, rising inventory but weakening demand, and new stress signals that some economists warn could prompt broader economic drag if mortgage rate relief does not materialize soon.
For great deals today, check out https://amzn.to/44ci4hQ
Housing inventory has finally started to improve after years of severe shortages. The number of homes for sale is now up 20 to 30 percent over last summer, recently surpassing one million nationally for the first time since 2019. Yet, inventory still sits about 10 to 15 percent below pre-pandemic levels. Increased listings are partly due to more sellers re-entering the market and homes spending longer durations unsold, especially outside the Northeast and Midwest where supply remains exceptionally tight. The South and West have seen the most robust inventory gains, aided by continued new construction.
Home prices are largely flat, with national averages up around 2.2 to 2.9 percent year-over-year, the slowest growth since before the pandemic. Recent data points to the median U.S. asking price at $407,000, and the median sale price at $399,633, but the pace has slowed. Sellers have begun lowering asking prices, and some are choosing to rent rather than sell. Buyer demand remains sluggish, with existing-home sales at a nine-month low and single-family housing starts and permits down to the lowest levels since mid-2024. As a result, 38 percent of builders cut prices in July, up from 29 percent in April.
Notably, the rental market and multifamily housing remain resilient, with apartment occupancy rates above 92 percent, driven by ongoing affordability challenges in homeownership. Industry leaders are responding by holding prices firm, slowing new builds, and in the case of office-focused REITs, cutting dividends to preserve liquidity. Compared to earlier this year, the market now faces sharper affordability constraints, rising inventory but weakening demand, and new stress signals that some economists warn could prompt broader economic drag if mortgage rate relief does not materialize soon.
For great deals today, check out https://amzn.to/44ci4hQ