You Can’t Believe the Headlines

Back to my infamous “in box” I received an article from Housing Wire titled “Why is Fannie Mae optimistic about housing market recovery”. Once you get past the headline and look at the article it shows that 30-year fixed rates average 7.21% at the end of February; but then they say that “Fannie Mae however remains optimistic that housing market activity will pick up”. They then go on to tell us that existing home sales dipped by 1% to a seasonally adjusted rate of 3.78 million units, that there is a low supply of existing homes, and new permits inched up 1.6%. Hardly a robust prediction!

It then talks about the softening economic growth as anticipated in 2024 but they are more optimistic about 2025. (Housing Wire, February 23, 2024, by Connie Kim)

Wells Fargo’s February 22nd economic indicator leads with “existing home sales jump in January as home buyers take advantage of falling prices”. Their optimism was based on December sales dip was “softer than first observed and that the total inventory was equivalent to 3month supply versus to 3.1. For the record the medium existing home sales price remained at $379,100 making the market highest sales price ever for the month of January.

So, what does all of this mean? What it means is you can’t rely on national averages to make local decisions. Each market, and markets within markets, even within the Midlands we see fairly dramatic differences in suburban versus in town markets, and within certain price points.

Looking for good advice on buying or selling a home, contact your local realtor, or better yet contact The Wheeler Group empowered by Coldwell Banker Real Estate. We will be glad to assist you in making the right decisions for you.