Special topic: favorable policies and economic recovery form a resonance market, which is expected to open the second wave of upward trend
Due to rising house prices and mortgage interest rates high position Steady, the sales of existing houses in the United States declined in March, reflecting the continued pain of the affordability dilemma in the United States and weakening the key spring home buying season.
The National Association of Realtors announced on Thursday that 4.19 million existing homes were sold in March, an annual rate adjusted for seasonal factors by The decline was 4.3%, the largest decline in more than a year. Existing home sales account for the majority of the US housing market. Except for the northeast region, which has experienced growth for the first time since November 2023, the sales volume of the whole country has declined.
At the same time, the median price of existing houses last month was $393500, up 4.8% from the same period last year. This is the highest price in March since records. Rising house prices and high mortgage rates mean that Americans are still dealing with a difficult real estate market.
this year ， Housing sales started strongly, from the decades of last autumn Coming The low point rebounded, but now the momentum seems to have subsided. Since the Federal Reserve has hinted that it will not cut interest rates in the short term, sales may not rise significantly.
Lawrence Yun, chief economist of NAR, said in a press release: "Although housing sales rebounded from a cyclical low, housing sales stagnated because there was no major change in interest rates." expect "
Is the market ahead difficult?
Mortgage interest rate plays a key role in determining housing affordability. This may be a frustrating crux.
Last year, as mortgage rates soared, to It reached a 20-year high of 7.79% in October ， Housing sales are at the lowest level in nearly 30 years 。
Subsequently, mortgage interest rates began to decline, because the market expected the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates significantly in 2024, but these expectations have been forgotten. The disappointing inflation report and signs that the economy is still strong made the Federal Reserve decision We stayed on the sidelines and postponed the first interest rate cut. In recent weeks Come on, Mortgage interest rate remains stable, but has an upward trend, because mortgage interest rate often Follow the trend of bond yields. As inflation data continues to rise, bond yields are climbing.
There has not been any meaningful decline in house prices nationwide, and house prices also play a role in housing affordability.
There is a bright spot in NAR's latest housing sales report: the number of first-time buyers entering the market has increased. They accounted for 32% of all transactions in March, up from 26% in February and 28% higher than a year ago, while the proportion of investors in March declined.
"I'm glad to see this figure rise to more than 30%," Yun said. Yun added that this may be because "people have heard March Litigation settlement agreement ， This means The buyer may need to provide additional funds to pay some professional agency fees, and they hope to complete it before the implementation of the new regulations in July Transaction process 。”
In March this year, the National Association of Realtors announced a historic settlement agreement, which is expected to change the way buyers and sellers pay fees to real estate agents, but has not yet been approved by the court. But it has caused a shock wave in the real estate industry, and some buyers said they planned to start looking for housing before the new regulations came into effect.
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Editor in charge: Yang Chunduan
