Spring Home-Selling Season Remains Tepid

New York, NY, May 12, 2025-"The troubled housing market can’t seem to get back on track,” reports the Wall Street Journal. 

“Inventory of homes for sale is steadily rising, but demand is still tepid. Home prices in parts of the country are falling. But with prices not much below record highs, many would-be buyers are still squeezed out. Mortgage rates are hovering around 6.75%, more than double the level of only a few years ago. 

“The crucial spring selling season is shaping up as a dud, crushing hopes that a housing market that has been anemic for more than two years can gain significant momentum this year. 

“‘It definitely feels like a disappointment,’ said Selma Hepp, chief economist at Cotality, a real-estate data provider.

“The recent deterioration in the economic backdrop and consumer sentiment is making matters worse, cooling buyer appetite for big purchases like a new home. 

“Even in markets where there is a glut of inventory and sellers are offering concessions, it isn’t enough to get the market moving nationally. 

“The real-estate industry had higher expectations going into this year after existing-home sales in 2023 and 2024 dropped to the lowest levels since the mid-1990s. 

“Many sellers who have to move because of job relocations, growing families or other life changes can’t put off listing their homes indefinitely. That is helping to wind down a long stretch when historically low supply kept sales depressed. 

“On the demand side, agents were counting on more buyers accepting that mortgage rates are unlikely to return to 3% and moving ahead with purchases anyway. 

“Sales rose in February, but activity the next month suffered its slowest sales pace for any March since 2009. Then in early April, President Trump rolled out his tariff policy, causing fresh economic anxiety and the stock market to sell off. That gave buyers another reason to stay away.

“‘It really pulled back the market,’ said Rick Palacios Jr., director of research at John Burns Research & Consulting.

“Prices fell year-over-year in April in 19 of the 100 biggest U.S. metro areas, the highest proportion since mid-2023, according to Intercontinental Exchange, a financial technology and data company.”