July 31, 2025 • 12 mins
The US housing market just posted its slowest spring season in more than a dozen years. Experts are pointing to a combination of factors: high prices, elevated mortgage rates and economic uncertainty in America.
So what would it take to turn things around? Big Take host Sarah Holder spoke with Bloomberg housing reporter Prashant Gopal and real estate agents in major markets about the challenges for buyers and sellers.
Read more: US Housing Market Posts Worst Spring Selling Season in 13 Years
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. How would you describe
the state of the housing market in your city right
now in one word?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
In one word nuanced, good and bad weird.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Those were the voices of real estate agents I talked
to in a few major US cities. And while there's
no single perfect word to capture the vibe of the
housing market this past season, the data itself is clear.
This spring, across the board, people aren't buying and selling
as much as they normally do.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I think spring was just a time of turmoil.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Colin Wainwright is a real estate broker in Nashville, Tennessee.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
So what we ended up seeing is a little bit
of a freeze, a little bit of flattening out. A
lot of buyers are still failing locked out.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
April through June is usually the busiest time for the
real estate industry, when the school year is ending and
families are to move before everything starts back up again
in the fall. But this May, the number of Nashville
homes sold was down sixteen percent compared to last year,
according to the real estate brokerage Redfin. Sales ticked up
slightly in June, but Bloomberg's US housing reporter Prashant Gopaul
(01:17):
says there's an even grimmer picture for home sales emerging
across the country.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
I looked at the spring season and that was the
lowest since twenty twelve.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
His one word to describe the market.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Week, I mean, actually, you could say it's the weakest
housing market since the wake of the Great Financial Crisis.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
When it comes to real estate, people always talk about
whether we're in a buyer's market or a seller's market.
But Ansley Stokes, a realtor in the Washington, DC area,
says this spring freeze has left everyone frustrated.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
In a slower market like we're in now, and both
parties can sometimes feel like they are losing.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I'm Sarah Holder, and this is the big take from
Bloomberg News Today. On the show, a Stalemate in the
American housing market, How unaffordability and uncertainty have combined to
slow down US home sales, and what could get people
moving again. Buying a house in the US has become
(02:23):
more and more of a pipe dream for many Americans.
But Bloomberg's Pishanko Paul says there were signs that the
country's punishing housing market was starting to get better, at
least for some buyers. At the beginning of this year.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
We saw more people starting to list their homes again.
We saw inventory as a whole started to rise, and
then mortgage rates ticked down slightly. So all of that
really looked positive. It looked like we were finally beginning
to break out of the cycle. But that didn't quite.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Happen because just as things were looking up, the economy
started feeling the effects of Trump's first few months in office.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Those inventory levels rose, but buyers didn't show up, and
you know, they didn't show up because there was a
lot of chaos in the economy.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
The Trump administrations cuts to the federal workforce continue.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
And the moves at Wall Street plumbers, small business owners
are terrified over what's next.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
After President Trump's tariff announcement, it was one thing after
the other, and I think a lot of buyers just
werespooked by the whole thing. That's the big change this year.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
We track the absorption rate. It's basically what percentage of
the available inventory is getting taken off the market by
buyers in any given one month period.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
That's Annsley Stokes, the realtor who works in the Washington
DC area.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
The higher the absorption rate, the stronger the market is
from a seller's perspective. So we've seen that absorption rate
kind of steadily fall off since the beginning of the year,
and it has largely dovetailed with the election and with
all of the changes coming down from the federal government.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Cuts to staffing in Washington hit the DC area especially
hard with its high population of federal government employees, but
the rest of the US felt the impacts of the
new administration's policies too.
Speaker 5 (04:19):
Buyers, they're up against worsening affordability, but in the background,
there's also uncertainty with the trade war and just the
overall economic situation, federal layoffs, layoffs in the tech industry.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Darryl Fairweather is the chief economist at Redfin.
Speaker 5 (04:33):
A lot of buyers aren't feeling like now is the
right time to commit to a really big purchase.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
The median home price in America was over four hundred
thousand dollars in April, and mortgage rates have been hovering
around six point eight percent for much of this year.
Speaker 5 (04:48):
Home sales are near record lows, and that's because there
are so few buyers out there.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
If fewer sales are happening. You'd think sellers might bring
down prices to help attract buyers. Is that happening.
Speaker 5 (05:01):
Well, instead of bringing down prices, sellers are just like
kind of taking the ball and going home. They're staying
put instead of participating in the housing market. They don't
feel like it's worth it to lower their price because
if they were to re enter the market, they feel
like they couldn't afford to buy the same kind of
home that they're in.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Some of those would be sellers also locked in low
mortgage rates during the pandemic, Like per Shant.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
I have a two point three percent mortgage rate.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Wow, I'm sure a lot of listeners would be jealous
to hear that.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
To get me to get rid of that two point
three percent rate and take on you know wherever it
is now six point eighty five percent is not going
to be very easy. So for me to sell, I
have to really have a good reason to sell and
buy something else. It's called the mortgage lock in effect.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
And Annsley, the DC realtor we heard from earlier, says
that cycle of sellers feeling locked in buyers having limited
options can be demoralizing for sellers.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Looking back, over the past, you know, five years, and
watching how quickly everything's sold, and it seemed like everybody
who listed a house got multiple offers and the sellers
got everything that they were looking for. And so now
all of the sudden sellers feel very beat up. They're
feeling very defensive. They think their properties are selling for
less than they should be, so that causes a lot
(06:26):
more friction in a transaction.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Sellers looked at this market and they said, wow, this
this kind of sucks.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
So to paint a picture, prices are still high, mortgage
rates are still high, sales are way down, and new
listings are starting to retreat, and that's created sort of
this perfect storm.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Yeah, I think that's true. You know, there's certain reasons
why people have to sell in any economy, right if
you get a divorce, if you have a kid, if
you have to move for a job. Those people will
move no matter what's going on. But there are other
people who can choose to move or not move. Those
are the people who might be pulling back right now
(07:09):
in terms of listing their homes.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
So what's going to thaw out the frozen US housing market?
That's after the break we've talked about what's keeping US
home buyers and sellers in a stalemate right now? High prices,
high mortgage rates, and a rocky economic outlook. But what
(07:36):
could turn things around, Bloomberg's Pishanko Paul says would be
buyers and sellers are holding out for one of those things,
in particular, to change mortgage rates.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
A lot of people are talking about this magic six
percent rate, which you know, I don't know how true
that is. Maybe there is some magical rate that if
it drops below that, psychologically that's enough to get buyers
off the fence.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
This week, the Federal Reserve chose to hold interest rates study,
which means mortgage rates likely won't change dramatically unless there's
a major shock to the economy. At the FED meeting
on Wednesday, when chair Jerome Powell was asked about what
his rate decision meant for the housing market, he pointed
to another issue beyond rates.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Yeah, we haven't built enough housing. This is not something
that FED can help with.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
But then that'll be the case even after things normalize,
and Powell is right, even if mortgage rates do come down,
the US is still short some four point seven million homes.
According to zillo I, asked Daryl Fairweather at Redfinn about this.
What role does increasing housing supply and increasing that inventory
(08:48):
play in getting out of this stalemate.
Speaker 5 (08:51):
Well, new construction is playing a much bigger role in
the market than it has, you know, in the last decade.
Because of the fact that there are so few existing
homes for sale, many people are turning to new construction.
In terms of new construction single family homes, those tend
to be the most expensive because they're brand new, They're
going to cost more, and for a first time buyer,
it's oftentimes like too big of a hurdle to go
straight to that new construction home. Most people choose starter
(09:14):
homes that are existing homes, But new construction of DNSE
housing like missing middle housing, like town homes duplexes, can
really do a lot to make that entry point more
viable for a first time buyer.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Some cities and states around the country are doing things
like loosening zoning restrictions to try and encourage construction of
that missing middle housing, essentially homes that are somewhere between
a single family home and a high rise building. And
there are efforts to address the housing crisis at the
federal level too, just This week, the Senate Banking Committee
advanced legislation meant to spur more housing development and make
(09:52):
it easier for Americans to access loans to buy and
repair homes. The bill will face House approval in the fall,
but Darryl says supply is always just one part of
the puzzle.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
I think all of these solutions are going to be
really helpful. Part of the problem is is that with
high interest rates, it's really expensive to build that kind
of housing, and people have a lot of their equity
locked up in their homes. So if mortgage rates were
to fall, it could actually help development as well. So
that's one reason to hope for lower interest rates.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
It can take time for these long term efforts to
pay off, for policy changes to pass, or for new
construction to break ground. In the meantime, the real estate
agents I spoke with are seeing their clients react to
the realities of the housing market as it stands now.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
We're seeing a record number of price reductions from a
list price perspective, and then we're seeing additional price concessions
once negotiations start.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
DC Area realtor Ansley Stokes says sellers are finally starting
to meet buyers where they're at for advice to those
sellers set realistic express patients.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Doesn't matter that a year ago that the similar house
sold for ten percent more. That is not the market today.
Speaker 6 (11:06):
Everyone's used to the COVID market where you know, sellers
could put a house on the market and get anything
they wanted for it.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
That's Christina Kipping, a real estate agent based in Tampa.
Speaker 6 (11:16):
I just got a buyer under contract fully escated this morning,
and with them it was we weren't going out first
weekend making offers. That's not happening anymore. Buyers are looking
at house as if they like it, they may go
back two weeks later after they've done full on research
of the neighborhoods, the schools, you know, walkability. I just
(11:39):
say buyers are being a little bit more patient.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
But not everyone can afford to take their time.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
There's an old adage in real estate about all the
d's that drive real estate purchases.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Colin Wayne right from Nashville again.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
You have death, divorced diapers, diamonds, debt. All of these
things are life events that drive the real estate industry
forward and make people need to have a change in
their housing needs. And so a lot of people who
had been sitting on the sidelines when the rates first
jumped up. They may have been able to wait for
(12:15):
a little while, but a lot of times those d's
can't wait anymore, and so the market has to turn forward.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
This is the Big Take from Bloomberg News. I'm Sarah Holder.
To get more from The Big Take and unlimited access
to all of Bloomberg dot com, subscribe today at Bloomberg
dot com slash podcast Offer. If you liked this episode,
make sure to follow and review The Big Take wherever
you listen to podcasts. It helps people find the show.
Thanks for listening. We'll be back tomorrow.
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. How would you describe
the state of the housing market in your city right
now in one word?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
In one word nuanced, good and bad weird.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Those were the voices of real estate agents I talked
to in a few major US cities. And while there's
no single perfect word to capture the vibe of the
housing market this past season, the data itself is clear.
This spring, across the board, people aren't buying and selling
as much as they normally do.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I think spring was just a time of turmoil.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Colin Wainwright is a real estate broker in Nashville, Tennessee.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
So what we ended up seeing is a little bit
of a freeze, a little bit of flattening out. A
lot of buyers are still failing locked out.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
April through June is usually the busiest time for the
real estate industry, when the school year is ending and
families are to move before everything starts back up again
in the fall. But this May, the number of Nashville
homes sold was down sixteen percent compared to last year,
according to the real estate brokerage Redfin. Sales ticked up
slightly in June, but Bloomberg's US housing reporter Prashant Gopaul
(01:17):
says there's an even grimmer picture for home sales emerging
across the country.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
I looked at the spring season and that was the
lowest since twenty twelve.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
His one word to describe the market.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Week, I mean, actually, you could say it's the weakest
housing market since the wake of the Great Financial Crisis.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
When it comes to real estate, people always talk about
whether we're in a buyer's market or a seller's market.
But Ansley Stokes, a realtor in the Washington, DC area,
says this spring freeze has left everyone frustrated.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
In a slower market like we're in now, and both
parties can sometimes feel like they are losing.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I'm Sarah Holder, and this is the big take from
Bloomberg News Today. On the show, a Stalemate in the
American housing market, How unaffordability and uncertainty have combined to
slow down US home sales, and what could get people
moving again. Buying a house in the US has become
(02:23):
more and more of a pipe dream for many Americans.
But Bloomberg's Pishanko Paul says there were signs that the
country's punishing housing market was starting to get better, at
least for some buyers. At the beginning of this year.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
We saw more people starting to list their homes again.
We saw inventory as a whole started to rise, and
then mortgage rates ticked down slightly. So all of that
really looked positive. It looked like we were finally beginning
to break out of the cycle. But that didn't quite.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Happen because just as things were looking up, the economy
started feeling the effects of Trump's first few months in office.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Those inventory levels rose, but buyers didn't show up, and
you know, they didn't show up because there was a
lot of chaos in the economy.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
The Trump administrations cuts to the federal workforce continue.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
And the moves at Wall Street plumbers, small business owners
are terrified over what's next.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
After President Trump's tariff announcement, it was one thing after
the other, and I think a lot of buyers just
werespooked by the whole thing. That's the big change this year.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
We track the absorption rate. It's basically what percentage of
the available inventory is getting taken off the market by
buyers in any given one month period.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
That's Annsley Stokes, the realtor who works in the Washington
DC area.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
The higher the absorption rate, the stronger the market is
from a seller's perspective. So we've seen that absorption rate
kind of steadily fall off since the beginning of the year,
and it has largely dovetailed with the election and with
all of the changes coming down from the federal government.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Cuts to staffing in Washington hit the DC area especially
hard with its high population of federal government employees, but
the rest of the US felt the impacts of the
new administration's policies too.
Speaker 5 (04:19):
Buyers, they're up against worsening affordability, but in the background,
there's also uncertainty with the trade war and just the
overall economic situation, federal layoffs, layoffs in the tech industry.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Darryl Fairweather is the chief economist at Redfin.
Speaker 5 (04:33):
A lot of buyers aren't feeling like now is the
right time to commit to a really big purchase.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
The median home price in America was over four hundred
thousand dollars in April, and mortgage rates have been hovering
around six point eight percent for much of this year.
Speaker 5 (04:48):
Home sales are near record lows, and that's because there
are so few buyers out there.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
If fewer sales are happening. You'd think sellers might bring
down prices to help attract buyers. Is that happening.
Speaker 5 (05:01):
Well, instead of bringing down prices, sellers are just like
kind of taking the ball and going home. They're staying
put instead of participating in the housing market. They don't
feel like it's worth it to lower their price because
if they were to re enter the market, they feel
like they couldn't afford to buy the same kind of
home that they're in.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Some of those would be sellers also locked in low
mortgage rates during the pandemic, Like per Shant.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
I have a two point three percent mortgage rate.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Wow, I'm sure a lot of listeners would be jealous
to hear that.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
To get me to get rid of that two point
three percent rate and take on you know wherever it
is now six point eighty five percent is not going
to be very easy. So for me to sell, I
have to really have a good reason to sell and
buy something else. It's called the mortgage lock in effect.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
And Annsley, the DC realtor we heard from earlier, says
that cycle of sellers feeling locked in buyers having limited
options can be demoralizing for sellers.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Looking back, over the past, you know, five years, and
watching how quickly everything's sold, and it seemed like everybody
who listed a house got multiple offers and the sellers
got everything that they were looking for. And so now
all of the sudden sellers feel very beat up. They're
feeling very defensive. They think their properties are selling for
less than they should be, so that causes a lot
(06:26):
more friction in a transaction.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Sellers looked at this market and they said, wow, this
this kind of sucks.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
So to paint a picture, prices are still high, mortgage
rates are still high, sales are way down, and new
listings are starting to retreat, and that's created sort of
this perfect storm.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Yeah, I think that's true. You know, there's certain reasons
why people have to sell in any economy, right if
you get a divorce, if you have a kid, if
you have to move for a job. Those people will
move no matter what's going on. But there are other
people who can choose to move or not move. Those
are the people who might be pulling back right now
(07:09):
in terms of listing their homes.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
So what's going to thaw out the frozen US housing market?
That's after the break we've talked about what's keeping US
home buyers and sellers in a stalemate right now? High prices,
high mortgage rates, and a rocky economic outlook. But what
(07:36):
could turn things around, Bloomberg's Pishanko Paul says would be
buyers and sellers are holding out for one of those things,
in particular, to change mortgage rates.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
A lot of people are talking about this magic six
percent rate, which you know, I don't know how true
that is. Maybe there is some magical rate that if
it drops below that, psychologically that's enough to get buyers
off the fence.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
This week, the Federal Reserve chose to hold interest rates study,
which means mortgage rates likely won't change dramatically unless there's
a major shock to the economy. At the FED meeting
on Wednesday, when chair Jerome Powell was asked about what
his rate decision meant for the housing market, he pointed
to another issue beyond rates.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Yeah, we haven't built enough housing. This is not something
that FED can help with.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
But then that'll be the case even after things normalize,
and Powell is right, even if mortgage rates do come down,
the US is still short some four point seven million homes.
According to zillo I, asked Daryl Fairweather at Redfinn about this.
What role does increasing housing supply and increasing that inventory
(08:48):
play in getting out of this stalemate.
Speaker 5 (08:51):
Well, new construction is playing a much bigger role in
the market than it has, you know, in the last decade.
Because of the fact that there are so few existing
homes for sale, many people are turning to new construction.
In terms of new construction single family homes, those tend
to be the most expensive because they're brand new, They're
going to cost more, and for a first time buyer,
it's oftentimes like too big of a hurdle to go
straight to that new construction home. Most people choose starter
(09:14):
homes that are existing homes, But new construction of DNSE
housing like missing middle housing, like town homes duplexes, can
really do a lot to make that entry point more
viable for a first time buyer.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Some cities and states around the country are doing things
like loosening zoning restrictions to try and encourage construction of
that missing middle housing, essentially homes that are somewhere between
a single family home and a high rise building. And
there are efforts to address the housing crisis at the
federal level too, just This week, the Senate Banking Committee
advanced legislation meant to spur more housing development and make
(09:52):
it easier for Americans to access loans to buy and
repair homes. The bill will face House approval in the fall,
but Darryl says supply is always just one part of
the puzzle.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
I think all of these solutions are going to be
really helpful. Part of the problem is is that with
high interest rates, it's really expensive to build that kind
of housing, and people have a lot of their equity
locked up in their homes. So if mortgage rates were
to fall, it could actually help development as well. So
that's one reason to hope for lower interest rates.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
It can take time for these long term efforts to
pay off, for policy changes to pass, or for new
construction to break ground. In the meantime, the real estate
agents I spoke with are seeing their clients react to
the realities of the housing market as it stands now.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
We're seeing a record number of price reductions from a
list price perspective, and then we're seeing additional price concessions
once negotiations start.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
DC Area realtor Ansley Stokes says sellers are finally starting
to meet buyers where they're at for advice to those
sellers set realistic express patients.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Doesn't matter that a year ago that the similar house
sold for ten percent more. That is not the market today.
Speaker 6 (11:06):
Everyone's used to the COVID market where you know, sellers
could put a house on the market and get anything
they wanted for it.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
That's Christina Kipping, a real estate agent based in Tampa.
Speaker 6 (11:16):
I just got a buyer under contract fully escated this morning,
and with them it was we weren't going out first
weekend making offers. That's not happening anymore. Buyers are looking
at house as if they like it, they may go
back two weeks later after they've done full on research
of the neighborhoods, the schools, you know, walkability. I just
(11:39):
say buyers are being a little bit more patient.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
But not everyone can afford to take their time.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
There's an old adage in real estate about all the
d's that drive real estate purchases.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Colin Wayne right from Nashville again.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
You have death, divorced diapers, diamonds, debt. All of these
things are life events that drive the real estate industry
forward and make people need to have a change in
their housing needs. And so a lot of people who
had been sitting on the sidelines when the rates first
jumped up. They may have been able to wait for
(12:15):
a little while, but a lot of times those d's
can't wait anymore, and so the market has to turn forward.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
This is the Big Take from Bloomberg News. I'm Sarah Holder.
To get more from The Big Take and unlimited access
to all of Bloomberg dot com, subscribe today at Bloomberg
dot com slash podcast Offer. If you liked this episode,
make sure to follow and review The Big Take wherever
you listen to podcasts. It helps people find the show.
Thanks for listening. We'll be back tomorrow.
Hosts And Creators
Sarah Holder
Saleha Mohsin
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.