Housing sales have been lukewarm so far in 2024, but there are signs that activity could heat up by the end of the summer, providing opportunities for home buyers, home sellers, builders, mortgage lenders and real estate professionals. The digital media pros at Brkthru are keeping our eyes on what’s happening, and fine-tuning campaigns to reach potential home buyers:
- Mortgage rates edge down – the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate has been below 7% since the first week of June and landed at 6.47% the week ending August 8. Experts say the housing market will see real momentum once mortgage rates drop and provide current homeowners who are locked in at low rates an incentive to put their homes on the market.
- Housing inventory increases. Despite more resale homes on the market, inventory is still tight. Demand continues to outpace housing supply—and likely will for the remainder of this year. Experts don’t expect to see a meaningful increase in the supply of existing homes for sale until mortgage rates are back down in the low 5% range. Yet, new home inventory at its highest since early 2008, but more supply is needed to fill the gap. New homes are still 33% lower than pre-pandemic averages, but it is increasing according to Zillow analysis.
- Good news! The median price for a new home is leveling off. U.S. home prices posted a 5.9% annual gain for May, down from a 6.4% in April, according to the latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index. Zillow reports that roughly 25% of its listings saw price cuts in June. The last time the rate was this high for cuts was in 2018. Prospective buyers have reason to be optimistic: 31% of builders slashed prices in June to bolster sales compared to 25% in May, according to the National Association of Home Builders.
In other real estate news, following years of litigation the National Association of Realtors (NAR) agreed to settle a series of high-profile antitrust lawsuits filed in 2019 on behalf of home sellers. The settlement received preliminary court approval in April. The NAR announced that the new required practices will go into effect on August 17. The new rules prohibit broker compensation offers on multiple listing services (MLS), the private databases that allow local real estate brokers to publish and share information about residential property listings. Sellers will no longer be responsible for paying buyer broker commissions and real estate agents participating in the MLS must establish written agreements with buyers.
Hot housing markets. If you’re a real estate professional, mortgage lender or new home builder in Colorado, North Carolina, Florida and Texas, you’re in luck with these hot real estate markets, according to U.S. News and World Report. Also coming on strong are Tennessee, Oregon, Georgia and Arizona and cities Cleveland, Virginia Beach, Virginia and Detroit.
With the pace of change accelerating in the real estate market, realtors, builders and mortgage lenders need a marketing partner that’s on top of changes. Brkthru has a proven winning combination of digital media tactics – Search Engine Marketing, Paid Social, Display, streaming audio and video and more – to reach potential home sellers and buyers. Reach out today to start a conversation info@brkthru.com!