Throughout July, the housing market experienced yet another inventory increase, which is now approaching pre-COVID levels. Net new listing and contract volume trended down near multi-year seasonal lows and as a result, median days on the market increased year-over-year.
The summer housing market remained quiet in July, as we had forecasted at the beginning of the month. With both net new listings and contract volume slightly down in the month compared to the prior year period, we can assume that this is still a lingering outcome from the stagnant housing market, as a result of affordability pressures for prospective buyers. Conversely, we see an uptick in net new listings when looking at the 52-week period, which was up 4.3% from the same period last year. We can presume that this continued moderate increasing of inventory levels from a multi-year standpoint creates the likelihood of driving inventory levels back up to pre-Covid levels.
Looking ahead in terms of buying costs, the Fed did not announce interest cuts this week, but experts are anticipating the Fed to start cutting rates in September. If realized, we can expect that the lowering of interest rates will result in the easing of the housing market. This can alleviate prospective buyers from the pressures of costly home-purchasing prices and financial commitments, propelled by peak mortgage rates. We will keep a close eye and continue to watch for cooling mortgage rates in the back half of the year.
Jeremy Sicklick, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of HouseCanary, commented:
“The summer housing market remained quiet in July, as we had forecasted at the beginning of the month. With both net new listings and contract volume slightly down in the month compared to the prior year period, we can assume that this is still a lingering outcome from the stagnant housing market, as a result of affordability pressures for prospective buyers. Conversely, we see an uptick in net new listings when looking at the 52-week period, which was up 4.3% from the same period last year. We can presume that this continued moderate increasing of inventory levels from a multi-year standpoint creates the likelihood of driving inventory levels back up to pre-Covid levels.
Looking ahead in terms of buying costs, the Fed did not announce interest cuts this week, but experts are anticipating the Fed to start cutting rates in September. If realized, we can expect that the lowering of interest rates will result in the easing of the housing market. This can alleviate prospective buyers from the pressures of costly home-purchasing prices and financial commitments, propelled by peak mortgage rates. We will keep a close eye and continue to watch for cooling mortgage rates in the back half of the year.”
More in the full report.
The Market Pulse Report is an ongoing review of proprietary data and insights from HouseCanary’s nationwide platform, covering 22 listing-derived metrics and comparing data between July 2023 and July 2024.