The US housing industry has entered one of its most notable standstills in recent memory, with the latest data underscoring a market in flux. New home sales dropped 13.7 percent in May compared to April, falling to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 623,000. This pace is also 6.3 percent lower than a year ago, according to the US Census Bureau. The steepest decline was in the South, where new home sales plunged 21 percent month over month and 15.5 percent year over year. In contrast, only the Northeast saw any increase in new home sales during this period.
Rather than supply constraints—a hallmark of the 2024 market—the current impasse is rooted in changing buyer and seller behavior. Supply has picked up, with about 507,000 new houses available in May. At the current sales pace, it would take nearly 10 months to clear this inventory, marking a shift to what is considered a buyers market. Traditionally, anything more than six months of supply signals this dynamic, a turnaround from the sellers market and rapid price escalation seen after the pandemic.
Despite increasing inventory, sales have slowed, partly due to elevated mortgage rates and worries over a softening labor market. Zillow now forecasts that home values will fall by 1.4 percent this year, reflecting downward pressure from rising housing inventory and more cautious buyers. Still, existing home sales are expected to improve slightly in 2025, up 1.9 percent over 2024, with a projected 4.14 million sales.
On the rental side, forecasts for rent increases have been revised lower. Single-family rents are expected to rise by 2.8 percent in 2025 and multifamily rents by 1.6 percent, held back by higher vacancy rates due to recent new construction.
Listing prices have flattened, with the typical home price unchanged year over year for the week ending June 14, and down 0.4 percent for the first half of 2025. While new listings surged 7.2 percent from last May, this is still below pre-pandemic levels.
In response, industry leaders are focusing on innovative sales incentives, moderating price expectations, and targeting growth markets like the Northeast. Compared to last year, the market has clearly shifted from overheated to more buyer-friendly, with stability and balance the emerging themes for 2025[1][3][4].
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