Want cheaper houses? Build more of them.

From Yahoo Finance:

Homebuyers still price sensitive as mortgage rates climb: Economist

Mortgage rates rose for their fourth straight week, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage now sitting at 6.54%. Existing home sales also fell to a 14-year low, the National Association of Realtors reporting a figure of 3.84 million for the month of September.

Market Domination welcomes Realtor.com chief economist Danielle Hale to talk about this week’s wave of housing and mortgage data.

“A lot of consumers were expecting mortgage rates to trend down for longer than they have. The economic strength that we’ve seen in… the most recent job market reading has caused a bit of a rebound in interest rates, including mortgage rates,” Hale explains to Julie Hyman and Josh Lipton. “And so consumers have been a bit caught off guard. And we haven’t seen the improvement yet. I think people were waiting for more and we just haven’t seen that yet.”

Hale anticipates mortgage rates to sit just above 6% this time next year. Currently, she is seeing “extraordinarily resilient” home prices as new homebuyers pull out of their housing market searches.

“And so that the fact that supply only just meets demand has kept prices relatively elevated. So I don’t think we’re going to see a lot of pricing relief unless we add a lot more construction,” Hale tells Yahoo Finance.

This entry was posted in Demographics, Economics, Housing Bubble, National Real Estate, New Development. Bookmark the permalink.

66 Responses to Want cheaper houses? Build more of them.

  1. Very Stable Genius says:

    This is only relevant to places where people want to live: Blue Cities.
    It’s not relevant to places where people do not want to live: Maga GOP States.

    NYC, Seattle, San Francisco, Montclair etc, have tremendous demand.
    Oklahoma, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas have no demand.

    “And so that the fact that supply only just meets demand has kept prices relatively elevated. So I don’t think we’re going to see a lot of pricing relief unless we add a lot more construction,” Hale tells Yahoo Finance.

  2. Fast Eddie says:

    I see pods being built everywhere. Or, are pods not what younger families want or need? So many what-ifs. Then again, pods are going for what single family homes were going for just a few years ago plus HOA fees AND property taxes. No advantage there. Does one need to go to Fort Wayne or seize Gary, Indiana and turn it into a thriving city again?

  3. Fast Eddie says:

    Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. The People’s Great City of Clifton, listed for 699K, sold for 777K this past June. It’s late 1970s decor throughout but hey, you want a house? It’s for the privileged. I can find hundreds of similar sales in the vicinity:

    https://www.trulia.com/home/61-pilgrim-dr-clifton-nj-07013-39725772

  4. 3b says:

    Fast: Not too long ago, 770k was a Franklin Lakes house price. Today every town in Bergen Co/ north Jersey is Franklin Lakes.

  5. SmallGovConservative says:

    Fast Eddie says:
    October 25, 2024 at 8:52 am
    “It’s late 1970s decor throughout but hey, you want a house?”

    I wonder if my father can ‘sell’ his garden shed??? True, someone would have to share it with two lawnmowers and a few bags of twenty year-old weed-n-feed, but it has 4 walls, a roof and even a small window — isn’t that enough in today’s market?

  6. BRT says:

    A power couple paid $875k for move into a more dated house than mine two homes down. I paid $435. He’s a corporate lawyer, she works for Bloomberg. All those earnings, straight into the mortgage payment.

  7. Hold my beer says:

    Fast

    It’s got a Married with children decor. That’s easily worth another 100k

  8. Chicago says:

    BRT: no. Large down payment. Ask daddy where it came from. Not kidding.

    Normal people sitting on massive amounts of money.

    $500K accounts are now $1M

    $2M are now $4.

    Not craziness. Regular people.

    I keep guilting parents to help their kids.

  9. Libturd says:

    I’m beginning to think there are two possible things at play here regarding RE prices.

    First, I think a ton of homes are being purchased with inheritances from boomer gains. This is the last pensioned generation, so this will not happen when their offspring age, especially considering the lesser likelihood that RE will keep exploding upward against the backdrop of continued higher interest rates and a demographic shift of people having less kids and even staying single.

    Second, there’s a phenomenon that occurs as one ages that is easy to ignore due to our own inherent biases. That is, we choose to ignore the impact of inflation on the starting salaries for newly minted college grads since it makes many of us look unsuccessful in comparison. For example, I recall when my dad sold his company for a million dollars around the the millenium. He was very successful. He had an advanced degree from Columbia in Engineering, was an All-American athlete in high school and worked incredibly hard his entire working life, waking at 5am and returning home from work between 5:30 and 6:00pm. He put seven kids through college and all of us have managed to have decently successful lives ourselves. He built his electronics manufacturing business from the ground up and specialized in the production of rectifiers used primarily in elevators, but also in some military applications. When I first heard he was a millionaire, I was completely wowed. Until about ten year later when I realized I was a millionaire and would retire with many times that. And all I did was work as a mid level manager in the corporate world. I look at what kids make out of school today and many of them get a signing bonus larger than my first professional salary out of college. Heck, I know a lot of people who are starting near 6 figures. It took me almost fifteen years of sweating my ass off to get there. Now today, I see what people are being hired at and I wonder what all of my experience has gotten me? Thank Muhammed I saved all of this time. If I didn’t, I would be looking forward to the day my son graduates so he could take ME out for dinner. I guess what I am trying to say in simple terms is that houses sounds really expensive until you factor in the impact of inflation and wage increases.

    Just some food for thought.

  10. Libturd says:

    Chicago,

    I think we are saying the same thing in different ways. Funny how it occured simultaneously.

  11. BRT says:

    Chi, my other new neighbors across the street, definitely, they went $950k and won the bidding war. You can tell it wasn’t their money they were bidding with. And the parents were regularly in checking on the contracting work to fix everything. But yes, I don’t doubt that most of these new purchases at obscene prices are coming from parents money.

    But this couple, I talked to the kid. His parents live in Madison and have like 3 vacation homes. He moved to Lawrence because anything North of 287 was out of their price range. I think the whole carrying $600k in combined student loans probably prevented them from getting anything elsewhere.

  12. Fast Eddie says:

    Beer,

    It’s got a Married with children decor. That’s easily worth another 100k.

    Christina Applegate! Ooofa! ;)

  13. Juice Box says:

    re: “I keep guilting parents to help their kids”

    Are 50 year olds really “kids” anymore?

  14. Phoenix says:

    Lib
    There is also the fact that around the time your dad was doing his thing, Europe was destroyed, Japan was nuked, Russia had 40 million dead soldiers, Germany was finished, and America was unscathed with only 30k losses and no attacks on it’s mainland. Not to forget manufacturing was in high gear in America with goverment assistance, the same assistance China gives its manufacturing departments today just not under wartime.

  15. Phoenix says:

    The age to adulthood is rising as fast as home prices. We like our youth stupid and high on legal weed.

    Juice Box says:
    October 25, 2024 at 10:29 am
    re: “I keep guilting parents to help their kids”

    Are 50 year olds really “kids” anymore?

  16. Phoenix says:

    Boomers tilted the scale in their favor.

    Same ones that have a pension themselves made sure no one else will ever get one.

    Then they got Covid, cried, and stuck the youth with the bill. Or the debt, that’s why that FRED chart looks like a Musk Rocket climbing.

  17. Juice Box says:

    Speaking of 50 year old kids. One of my relatives keeps hitting everyone up for favors and money this month. Lost regular good job last year and was driving Uber since maybe clearing $200 a day. They just got into an accident (not their fault) and car is totaled, it was a new car and now no car no income. Insurance will probably cut them a check for less than they put down on the car and total it, probably won’t get another new car loan etc without income other than Uber? Not really sure how car loans work these days if all you do is drive Uber.

  18. Juice Box says:

    re: ” We like our youth stupid and high on legal weed.”

    Was in town the other day to pickup some greek takeout food and there is a new dispensary, next to WaWa and were day laborers sometimes wait to be picked up.

    https://frostednug.com

    I think the town approved three licenses so anyway was out for dinner and drinks with a coworker Wednesday night at the local Red Rock, nice evening so we were outside. It’s next to the Hospital. I don’t know who was smoking weed but the smell was everywhere around. It’s illegal to use weed in public places, and really I just want to enjoy my dinner. If you smoke cigarettes or weed do it somewhere else.

  19. Phoenix says:

    “It’s illegal to use weed in public places, and really I just want to enjoy my dinner. If you smoke cigarettes or weed do it somewhere else.”

    Ok Boomer.

    Hehe

  20. Fast Eddie says:

    We like our youth stupid and high on legal weed.

    Soft and high. I was in the office this week… a colleague is training recent grads, says they simply don’t want to be proactive or assertive. He says they’re too passive and not willing to troubleshoot or research. He says way too much hand-holding.

  21. Fast Eddie says:

    Katrina is now up in 6 of 7 swing states, +5 nationally. I guess saving democracy sprinkled with joy is the mood for a day.

  22. Phoenix says:

    Our youth being asked important questions.

    https://youtu.be/U8b_7jgjWCM

  23. LAX says:

    10:58 maybe your firm isn’t attracting good people…

  24. Phoenix says:

    Who is Katrina? Is this day drinking on a Friday?

    Anyone think that shares in gun stock/gun sales gonna rise if Kamala becomes President?

  25. LAX says:

    It is interesting as we get older how much our parents influence is impacting us.

  26. LAX says:

    11:10 It’s really easy to get guns in red states.
    Not so much in blue ones.

  27. Fabius Maximus says:

    As I was driving last night to a dinner I was thinking the car looks a little dirty. I found a car wash in Westfield. The basic wash was $22 WTF. Same wash in my area is $9.

    If the price wasnt bad enough, you had to get out of your car and let the staff drive it through the wash lane. No way I’m handing over my pride and joy to someone who may or may not have driven a manual back in the old country.

    I’ll stick to Bergen, Union is weird.

  28. Phoenix says:

    Some boomers help their children more than others. Buying a house for them is a nice gesture, but wait till you read this:

    The parents of a Utah woman accused of murdering her husband after confessing an affair have been arrested on charges they helped her clean the crime scene.

    Thomas Gledhill, 71, and Rosalie Gledhill, 67, were charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly helping their daughter Jennifer Gledhill clean her $1 million home after, police say, she shot her husband Matthew Johnson dead as he slept.

    Police say witnesses saw the parents cleaning 41-year-old Jennifer’s house for five hours, with Rosalie suspected of buying a new mattress for her daughter

  29. Phoenix says:

    Tucker Carlson. Daddy spanking Hehe.

    The train has left the tracks.

    https://youtu.be/fYNrDI1dtEw?t=121

  30. Phoenix says:

    It’s good to be the king.

    Goggins, who lives in Chatham, was a former senior vice-president and general counsel for the credit rating service, before retiring this year. From 2018 to 2021, Goggins earned $54 million in earned income, yet never failed a federal income tax return, US Attorney Philip Sellinger said.

    Goggins was also sentenced to one year of supervised release and paid the IRS $3.11 million, Sellinger said. He was also fined $40,000.

  31. 3b says:

    Lib: You have a point in some respects, but not every boomer parent is giving that kind of cash for down payments. Even the ones that do have those kinds of resources, once the down payment is done, there is still the monthly mortgage payment. One person loses employment, and then it becomes a problem. It was not that long ago, where one income could buy a house in a nice suburb and support a family, while one parent stayed home with the kids until school age. That is out of reach for most young families today.

  32. Phoenix says:

    It was not that long ago, where one income could buy a house in a nice suburb and support a family, while one parent stayed home with the kids until school age. That is out of reach for most young families today.

    What do you think caused this 3b?

  33. Phoenix says:

    Obviously you have someone in mind. You should go first.

    Hold my beer says:
    October 25, 2024 at 12:13 pm
    In your mind Which one of us looks the most like this guy?

    https://nypost.com/2024/10/25/us-news/bearded-perp-covers-his-face-in-markers-after-threatening-to-blow-up-ulta-beauty-store/

  34. Libturd says:

    Phoenix,

    Yes, that could be me, though my breasts are probably larger.

    3B,
    Absoultely it’s not all. Everyone else moves into a cardboard apartment.

    And for those who want to claim the election is being “stolen” again. Please read this!

    https://www.readtangle.com/election-fraud-explanations-debunked-2024/?ref=tangle-newsletter

  35. Chicago says:

    Flab

    Hold my beer says:
    October 25, 2024 at 12:13 pm
    In your mind Which one of us looks the most like this guy?

    https://nypost.com/2024/10/25/us-news/bearded-perp-covers-his-face-in-markers-after-threatening-to-blow-up-ulta-beauty-store/

  36. Chicago says:

    A lot of it is indirect. The kids are launched out of the house with a chunk of change.

    Most kids want a car, insurance, gas, restaurant bills, clothes etc.

    How do you pay for it? Job. Gifts through the stages of life.

    What if all those “wants” are covered by the parents through the end of college?

    You walk off campus with a small amount of debt possibly, but maybe sitting on $10,000-$100,000 of cash/investments.

    If you ask the kid, they will say well that’s my money. It’s my savings. But I say fuck that, it’s easy to save when you have no expenses.

    Lather rinse repeat across the population

    3b says:
    October 25, 2024 at 12:09 pm
    Lib: You have a point in some respects, but not every boomer parent is giving that kind of cash for down payments. Even the ones that do have those kinds of resources, once the down payment is done, there is still the monthly mortgage payment. One person loses employment, and then it becomes a problem. It was not that long ago, where one income could buy a house in a nice suburb and support a family, while one parent stayed home with the kids until school age. That is out of reach for most young families today.

  37. Hold my beer says:

    Phoenix

    That guy took the look I was going for.

  38. Juice Box says:

    Washington Post and the LA Times won’t endorse VP Harris….

    Yes they did not endorse Trump either but why not Harris?

  39. Fabius Maximus says:

    The GOP way, what’s the point of elections.

    Freedom Caucus leader endorses radical proposal for North Carolina to hand its electoral votes to Trump
    Rep. Andy Harris said the damage caused by Hurricane Helene in pro-Trump counties would justify the extraordinary maneuver.
    https://www.politico.com/news/2024/10/25/trump-freedom-caucus-north-carolina-electors-00185520

  40. Fabius Maximus says:

    The LA Times owner is a big Trump supporter. There are Electoral Board resignations over it.

  41. LeaveThePsychoOrangeTurdAlone GrimReaperIsOverdueForHim says:

    Jeff Bezos owns Washington Post.
    Patrick Soon-Shiong owns LA Times.

    Both are billionaires that have main businesses that depend on interactions with the US Govt. So is best and smarter thing not to stir the psychopathic wasp nest in case OrangeTurd gets in, besides 300lbs+ 80yrs old, the grim reaper likely booked a date already.

    OrangeTurd will sting them. Harris will given them an automatic pass, as she is a 3rd Way Democrat, aka Corporate Democrat or in the 1970’s – a Rockefeller Republican at heart. That is why the Clinton/Obama machine selected her.

  42. LeaveThePsychoOrangeTurdAlone GrimReaperIsOverdueForHim says:

    BTW, This is how the kowtowing and bending the knee starts.

    Soon enough the last one that does not gets this treatment
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Daily

    OrangeTurd has his days heavily limited by his age, but the crowd that will be empowered by him is the problem. This crowd will eventually will inner fight once he is gone. Because of their different gravity points that fall all over the map in the right wing ideological and religious spectrum.

    Once, the knee is bent. The integrity is gone, only the value of the sell out will decide actions.

  43. Juice Box says:

    I love the rationalization..

    “Harris will given them an automatic pass”

    Hahhahahahah…… Sorry bud Bezos doesn’t think she will be elected….

    Several rich men with their fingers on the election. this time. We do need to get the money out. I howeer imagine Kamala wants to keep the spigot open…just like Trump. So why the pivot Bezos???

    Who is the next man behind the curtain? Fed Governor Chair a woman? Hhahahhahahahahhahahahhah!! < Insert evil laughter here…

  44. Phoenix says:

    BTW, This is how the kowtowing and bending the knee starts.

    Soon enough the last one that does not gets this treatment
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Daily

    This is a very American tactic, no different than sanctions to get what you want. Bet they learned this from us.

  45. Phoenix says:

    Hehe.

    Libturd says:
    October 25, 2024 at 12:32 pm
    Phoenix,

    Yes, that could be me, though my breasts are probably larger.

  46. Phoenix says:

    Newspapers/ News in general shouldn’t be endorsing anyone.

    That’s bias.

    But hey, this is America, the land of twisted words. Ronald Reagan took the last integrity this country ever had and dropped a turd on it. Got rid of the fairness doctrine.

    Goodbye Walter Cronkite, guys like you will never exist again.

  47. LAX says:

    ( )( )====D — — —

  48. Chicago says:

    I mentioned I’ve DVR’ed the national ABC evening news program for several years now, just for the curation of the top 3 or 4 national stories. No big loyalty to it. It is very convenient. CBS & NBC are unwatchable.

    The blatant bias over the last week or so is stunning. What are they doing? I am just incredulous.

  49. Phoenix says:

    Hehe

    Musk and his brother, Kimbal, have often described their immigrant journey in romantic terms, as a time of personal austerity, undeterred ambition and a willingness to flout conventions. Musk arrived in Palo Alto in 1995 for a graduate degree program at Stanford University but never enrolled in courses, working instead on his start-up.

    Leaving school left Musk without a legal basis to remain in the United States, according to legal experts.

    Foreign students cannot drop out of school to build a company, even if they are not immediately getting paid, said Leon Fresco, a former Justice Department immigration litigator.

    “If you do anything that helps to facilitate revenue creation, such as design code or try to make sales in furtherance of revenue creation, then you’re in trouble,” Fresco said.

  50. Fast Eddie says:

    The blatant bias over the last week or so is stunning. What are they doing? I am just incredulous.

    Didn’t we witness it during the ABC debate? Try browsing through Reddit, the anger has risen to suicide levels. They’re openly calling Trump Satan and Hitler and praying he gets murdered. Meanwhile, I listened to the Joe Rogan podcast which was awesome. Trump is authentic, a complete 180 from that moron Cumella.

  51. BRT says:

    Musk was just a dreamer bro. Doesn’t matter, he seeded like 15 anchor babies here.

  52. Juice Box says:

    Keith Olbermann today….He has lost all his marbles.

    We need to arrest and detain @elonmusk immediately.

    He is operating on behalf of Russia. Cancel all contracts, seize his facilities, lock him away in a military facility.

    Now, @potus.

    Not tomorrow.

  53. Juice Box says:

    Don’t believe the hype.

    People on J-1 and F-1 student visas can work and obtain social numbers. Whatever Elon was doing he still had to apply like everyone else. If customs and immigration had an issue with him in 1996 he would have been denied.

    security numbers.

  54. Phoenix says:

    Musk creating his own master race. He should get together with Mike Myers he could play as Dr Evil’s older son.

    BRT says:
    October 26, 2024 at 11:14 am
    Musk was just a dreamer bro. Doesn’t matter, he seeded like 15 anchor babies here.

  55. Phoenix says:

    They could lose site of both the moon and sun.

    If customs and immigration had an issue with him in 1996 he would have been denied.

  56. Juice Box says:

    Reddit is an echo chamber safe space. If you even try and post anything on the politics sub with even a centrist view it’s censored. The moderators existing views are only reinforced and any alternative ideas are not allowed to considered. If you even try it you will be deplatformed. It is in every way George Orwell’s Ministry of Truth.

  57. Very Stable Genius says:

    Reagan’s Trickle Down economics destroyed the middle class.

    Maga will double down

    Phoenix says:
    October 25, 2024 at 12:18 pm
    It was not that long ago, where one income could buy a house in a nice suburb and support a family, while one parent stayed home with the kids until school age. That is out of reach for most young families today.

  58. Juice Box says:

    Over 300 people waiting in line to vote at early voting today in my town. I’m gonna come back during the week when it’s less crowded

  59. MAGAsTopLeadershipMotto EgoVeniPerCorruptionem says:

    VSG,

    The danger with OrangeTurd is the amount of exponential corruption that will developed once he dies. A cornucopia of ideological/religious power center that will find a way to corruption as there will be a no longer functioning DOJ.

    The big issue in Iran is two fold. The clerical class hold the top position at all power centers and the standing corruption at all levels because the clerical class is corrupt at the top. Same thing will happen here. Will become another latin american country. Just like the movie “Loopers”, where the goons worked out of the police station. Just like it happened in Mexico, where in certain cartel controlled states – the State Police was captured. To be a state cop meant you were first a cartel member.

    A corrupt leader always understand that every power center below him is corrupt, because of the price of his underlings’ loyalty, the quid pro quo is allowing them to get their beaks wet. He has to ensure that is kept in check and no one gets to big for their suits and wants to take him out.

    To quote the movie “The Graduate” – In Orange Turd land – the future is “Organized Crime”.

    Phoenix, look up the Lewis Lapham movie “The American Ruling Class” . Here is a small clip https://youtu.be/d91SEEpvCzU?si=gOtJ8nvFaolGrQAU

  60. Juice Box says:

    Ran into Gov Murphy and his wife voting today. She was wearing a boot on her foot, and had crutches.They did not have to wait inline.

  61. Fabius Maximus says:

    Nice 30 min listen https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0024cxt

    “Trumps first term is like Child Birth or your First Big Mac, you forget how awful it was, but with enough time, you will give it another go!”

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