National News
Nationally, home sales were down 2.6% year over year and up 8.4% month over month, RE/MAX said.
The median existing-home price was also on the upswing last month, providing homeowners a bit of refuge as the stock market undergoes a correction, Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in the monthly report.
The pace of new-home construction was higher than economists expected, even as homebuilders expressed concern about the impact of tariffs and supply-side challenges.
At the same time, Asian and Hispanic homeownership increased as well.
The week’s biggest real estate winner was Redfin, which saw its stock nearly double.
The acquisition was described as an all-stock transaction.
Falling consumer sentiment suggests potential homebuyers are wary of the short-term economic outlook and future inflation, CoreLogic Chief Economist Selma Hepp said.
Furthermore, 13% of homeowners said they’d take their home off the market if they learned their ex was considering buying it.
Czarnecki fills the shoes of past president and CEO Mark Willis, who stepped down in January.
At the same time, the median sales price for a new home hit its highest level since 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Rate announced an initiative that will offer first responders a one-year accidental death insurance policy that covers their mortgage balance up to $650,000 if they die in the line of duty.
In Dallas, home prices posted a 1.61% year-over-year gain in December, while they slid 0.01% month over month.
At the same time, builder sales expectations for the next six months posted their second-largest drop since the sentiment index started in 1985.
In the wake of this news, Redfin also laid off 450 employees.
Yun expects mortgage rates to drop to 6% by the end of the year.
President Donald Trump’s 25% tariff on Canadian and Mexican goods will harm housing affordability in the United States, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) said in a statement over the weekend.