A New Report Illustrates Just How Stuck the Housing Market Is
The U.S. housing market in 2024 is at its slowest in 30 years, with only 2.5% of homes changing hands in the first eight months due to record-high home prices and elevated mortgage rates. This combination has created one of the most unaffordable housing markets in a generation, with low inventory levels further exacerbating the situation.
According to CNN, just 2.5% of homes in the US changed hands this year in the first eight months, the lowest turnover rate in at least 30 years, according an analysis by Redfin.
The latest data from the real estate brokerage underscores just how much the housing market has stalled in 2024 as Americans faced a toxic combination of record-high home prices and elevated mortgage rates, creating one of the most unaffordable housing markets in a generation. A rate cut by the Federal Reserve this month has fueled hopes that the interest rate-sensitive housing market will soon experience a fresh jolt.
“What this data tells us is that the housing market in 2024 has been really frozen,” said Chen Zhao, Redfin’s economic research lead. “We said the same thing in 2023 and I think there was this expectation that it couldn’t get any worse, but 2024 has been disappointing for the housing market.”
About 25 of every 1,000 homes were sold between January and August. That means 37% fewer homes were sold between January and August this year than during that same period in 2021 — which saw a pandemic-induced burst of home-buying activity — and 31% fewer homes than the same period in 2019.
Zhao said a market where 30 to 40 of every 1,000 homes changed hands would signify a healthier housing landscape.
Of course, one of the main reasons that fewer people are buying homes now is that there are fewer homes for sale. Just 32 out of every 1,000 homes were listed for sale in the first eight months of this year, the lowest level since at least 2012, the earliest year that Redfin has listing data available.
