Home sales reached a new lower in 2024, mortgage rates and real estate prices being high, buyers and sellers were kept away from the real estate market.
The Americans sold 4.06 million used houses during the year, the lowest since 1995, the National Association of Realtors announced on Friday. 2024 marked the third consecutive year in which sales decreased, and a sharp decline compared to 2021, when 6.1 million dwellings changed hands.
“In the end, the total cost of ownership of property is higher than it has ever been,” said Dan Richards, president of Flyhomes Mortgage, based in Seattle. “The challenge for consumers is that, even if mortgage rates have skyrocketed, prices have also remained high. Today, the loan cost is higher and the price of the house is higher.
Sales straightened in the last quarter of the year: they amounted to 4.24 million in December, 9.3 % faster than in December 2023.
And as the housing supply is still too low to meet demand, prices continue to climb. In December, the national median selling price was $ 404,400, up 6 % compared to the previous year. At $ 407,500, the median price for the whole of 2024 marked a new record.
It would take 3.3 months to exhaust the offer of housing available on the market if sales continued at the rate of December. This represents about half of the long -term average of six months of supply.
The real estate market will face strong difficulties in 2025.
Mortgage rates increased in each of the first three weeks of January and oscillate around 7 %. Many market observers expect Washington policies to maintain upward pressure on inflation and loan costs.
The Redfin Homebuyer index is asking, a measure of visits and other purchasing services from agents, has been close to its lowest level since June, the national brokerage house said on Thursday in an email. The sale of houses takes more time, said Redfin: with an average of 52 days, it is the longest delay in two years.
This slowness is also reflected in consumer confidence surveys. The highly appreciated index of the feeling of purchase of Maison Fannie Mae fell in December, although it is higher than the previous year, said the mortgage guarantor earlier in January. This is “due in part to persistent optimism in terms of mortgage rates,” said fannie economists in a statement.
“Although respondents remain discouraged by the rise in prices of real estate and mortgage rates in the era of the pandemic, the upward trend of the feeling of house purchase in 2024 could reflect a slow acclimatization to conditions of generally less affordable market, “noted the press release.
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