Good Monday Morning!

After a small improvement with home sales nationally, March saw that trend end as once again homes sales slumped. The trend for home sales in the Eugene and Springfield area also has declined further recently. The big question at this point is whether the housing market will continue to slide downwards. The culprits at this point are multiple. The inventory of homes for sale both locally and nationally remains extremely low. Would be home buyers are continuing to find it very difficult to find homes. Mortgage interest rates have declined some recently, but continue to be much higher than during the hot market of a year ago. Typically, in a situation where mortgage interest rates rise, home values decline to compensate. That has not really happened recently and the combination of higher interest rates with high home prices has made home affordability difficult for many would be home buyers. The other culprit is a sagging economy where inflation continues to create havic. A good indication of what is happening in our economy is that auto loan foreclosures are at an all time high, home foreclosures are on a sharp rise and overall consumer spending is lagging. With all of this, the local market remains strong for home sellers. This may not last for long, but the low inventory of homes for sale make the market favorable for those who decide to sell a home right now. The following is an article from "Realtor.com" that describes recent national Real Estate trends.

The numbers: Existing-home sales in the U.S. fell 2.4% in March, as buyers contended with higher mortgage rates and a lack of new listings.

Sales of previously owned homes in the U.S. fell to an annual rate of 4.44 million in March, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.

That’s the number of homes that would be sold over an entire year if sales took place at the same rate in every month as they did in March. The numbers are seasonally adjusted.

The drop in sales reverses a sudden jump in February, when home sales rose to a revised pace of 4.55 million.

The drop in sales was larger than expected. Economists had expected existing-home sales to total 4.48 million in March.

Compared with March 2022, home sales were down 22%.

Key details: The median price for an existing home fell by 0.9% from last March, dropping to $375,700 this year.

The drop is the largest since January 2012, when home prices fell 2% year over year. It’s also the second month in a row that home prices fell.

Home prices peaked at 25.2% in May 2021.

The number of homes on the market rose by 1% in March from the previous month, to 980,000 units.

Expressed in terms of the months-supply metric, there was a 2.6-month supply of homes for sale in March, the same as the previous month. Before the pandemic, a four- or five-month supply was the norm.

Homes remained on the market for 29 days on average in March, down from 34 days in February.

Sales of existing homes fell in most regions, falling the most in the Midwest. The Northeast was the only region that saw sales remain flat.

All-cash transactions made up 27% of all sales, and about 28% of homes were sold to first-time home buyers. The share of individual investors or second-home buyers was 17%.

Big picture: Buyers are watching mortgage rates, and with a low number of homes on the market, they’re being cautious and pulling back when the market isn’t going their way.

Rates rose in the latest week, adding hundreds of dollars in extra costs for potential borrowers, and mortgage demand is down. The drop likely signals further weakness in home sales.

Would-be home buyers are also contending with a low supply of new listings. Many are turning to new homes, whose inventory continues to grow. Builders are gaining market share as a result.

What the realtors said: “It’s a unique housing market,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors, said.

Despite drops in home prices and sales, multiple offers are back, Yun said, especially for entry-level homes. New listings are down 17% from the previous year.

Have An Awesome Week!

Stay Healthy! Stay Safe! Remain Positive! Trust in God!

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