Has the housing market peaked?
Home prices have been on a tear, but now experts are lining up with their calls that this could be the peak for the U.S. housing market.
David Rosenberg, chief economist and strategist at Gluskin Sheff + Associates, in a tweet said that the housing market has entered a recession of its own and “nobody seems to notice.”
“The housing market has entered a recession of its own and nobody seems to notice. Mortgage apps sank 3% in the Aug 3rd week, down now for four weeks running, and the YoY trend has collapsed 17% from year-ago levels.”
Meanwhile, in a conference call discussing the company’s latest earnings, RedFin’s chief executive said that the company is forecasting slower revenue growth for the third quarter due in part to a “weakening real estate market.”
“As U.S. home prices have increased faster than wages for 70 straight months, buyers in markets like these have finally had enough, at least for now. There are still plenty of markets where homebuyer demand is strong. But for the first time in years, we are getting reports from managers of some markets that homebuyer demand is waning, especially in some of RedFin's largest markets,” according to Glenn Kelman, CEO of the real estate brokerage.
Both existing and new-home sales declined in June, but price gains on sold homes accelerated, according to CoreLogic’s June Home Price Index.
Some economists blamed the retreat in home sales on limited supplies. But according to Kelman, “What's striking about this change is that it seems to have been driven by dissident demand from homebuyers, not just a low supply of homes for sale.”