Latest news with #DarylFairweather
Entrepreneur
6 days ago
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Good Luck Trying to Buy a Home Right Now
It's supposed to be the busiest time of the year for real estate — but instead, it's crickets. June existing home sales fell to a nine-month low, and one in seven potential deals fell through, according to new data from Redfin and the National Association of Realtors (NAR). With 30-year mortgage rates around 6.67% at press time, and median home prices rising 2% from a year ago (now around $435,300), being a buyer is a tough draw in 2025. Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin, told the New York Times that buyers are staying on the sidelines. Related: Barbara Corcoran Says the Best Entrepreneurs Are Good at This One Thing "What it really comes down to, as always, is affordability," Fairweather told the outlet. However, even with the housing supply increasing 15.9% from one year ago, many sellers still think they can get top dollar, dreaming of pandemic days when things skyrocketed (home prices increased 40% on average from 2020 to 2022, and even higher—58%—in some markets like South Florida, per TD Bank). And though some markets have since cooled, especially on Florida's west coast, many sellers are choosing to delist rather than cut prices, says Joel Berner, a senior economist for per the New York Times. Related: This Is the Newest Real Estate Trend You Can't Miss — and It's Worth $438 Billion "Sellers still have pretty high expectations of what they can get for their homes," Berner told the outlet. Of the contract cancellations, Jacksonville, Florida, had the most, with more than one in five (21.4%) of home-purchase agreements canceled in June, per Redfin data. Las Vegas came in second with (19.7%) followed by Atlanta (19.6%). Join top CEOs, founders, and operators at the Level Up conference to unlock strategies for scaling your business, boosting revenue, and building sustainable success.
New York Times
6 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
U.S. Homes Are Not Selling, and Prices Continue to Rise
U.S. home prices hit another record high in June, even as buyers backed out of deals and stood on the sidelines. This should be the busiest time of year, but the housing market remains frozen in place and sales are down. Last month, sales of existing homes dropped by 2.7 percent from the previous month, while the median home price, at $435,300, hit a record high for the month of June, according to the National Association of Realtors. June is supposed to be the height of the spring housing season, the time of year when Americans move before their attention shifts to summer vacations, the next school year and the winter holidays. Sales typically pick up again in the fall, but not enough to compensate for a lackluster spring. And this spring has been anything but active. In a sign that buyers are skittish about making a large purchase in an uncertain economy, about 15 percent of June deals fell apart, the highest level for the month of June on record, according to Redfin. 'What it really comes down to, as always, is affordability,' said Daryl Fairweather, the chief economist at Redfin. Buyers, she said, 'just don't feel like they can afford to buy a home at these prices.' This disconnect between home prices and home sales has defined the last three years of the housing market, and kept it in a doom loop. June was the 24th straight month of year-over-year price growth in the United States, yet regions like the Northeast saw the number of sales plummet by 8 percent in June from the previous month, according to N.A.R. These conditions are the result of a combination of a lack of available homes to buy and stubbornly high mortgage rates, creating an affordability crisis for millions of Americans who have been all but shut out of the housing market for three years. The 30-year mortgage rate has been stuck just below 7 percent since November, and was 6.75 percent as of July 17, according to Freddie Mac, the mortgage finance company. Mortgage rates, which tend to track to the 10-year Treasury yield, reached a recent peak in January and are unlikely to fall soon. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
23-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Rate buydowns, negotiations, and nepo money: Here's how people are affording homes in today's market
With high mortgage rates and home prices, buyers are struggling. Some are getting creative with rate buydowns and negotiations. Other buyers are seeking down payment assistance from their parents. With high mortgage rates and home prices outpacing wage growth, it's easy to find yourself wondering how anybody is buying a house in today's economy. Homes have been unaffordable for many Americans in recent year, especially as prices skyrocketed after the pandemic and never really came back down to earth. It doesn't look like the outlook for next year will be any better, either. Mortgage rates are expected to remain high, exacerbating the lock-in effect and keeping existing home sales low, Goldman Sachs said in a recent report. To crack into the market, buyers are getting creative, whether through different financing structures, bargaining, or tapping into generational wealth. Rate buydowns With mortgage rates hovering near 7%, more homeowners are opting for a rate buydown to decrease their monthly costs. According to Goldman Sachs, the prevalence of rate buydowns has increased drastically post-pandemic, with roughly 40% new home sales involving a temporary rate buydown. Temporary rate buydowns reduce the buyer's interest rate for the first few years before the full rate kicks in. You can also buy mortgage points upfront to lower your rate for the full term of the loan. One point is typically 1% of the overall mortgage and lowers the interest rate by 0.25%. Sometimes, homebuilders or sellers will also offer rate buydowns to close a sale faster. "It is something that we're seeing more of right now," Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin, said of rate buydowns. It's a good strategy if you have more cash upfront and you're planning to stay in the house for the long term, Fairweather said. However, if you're planning on selling or if rates come down in the near term, a rate buydown might not be the best option. "If you end up selling a year or two from now, then you just bought those points, but you're not actually ever going to use them," Fairweather told Business Insider. Negotiations Affordability might be constrained, but buyers may still have room to negotiate. Sellers who purchased their homes during the pandemic are realizing that demand for homes has come down amid economic uncertainty. Sellers now outnumber buyers, and especially in hot pandemic markets like Florida and Texas, homes are sitting on the market for longer. Sellers are offering concessions such as cash, closing costs, repairs, and mortgage buydowns to entice buyers and close the deal. "Now that it's more of a buyer's market, buyers are taking their time. They realize that they can get a different home if the seller isn't being reasonable," Fairweather said. Additionally, with slowing rent growth, buyers can afford to be patient instead of rushing into the housing market. Goldman Sachs expects year-over-year shelter inflation to drop from 4.1% today to 2.6% by December 2026. "They can go to the rental market, where rents are pretty flat, and they can wait it out another year if they don't feel like the market has shifted enough in their favor," Fairweather said. Nepo money And finally, some homebuyers are getting help from family. A Redfin study from earlier this month found that nearly a quarter of Gen Z and millennial homebuyers who recently bought a home received assistance from their families through either a cash gift or an inheritance. Almost 21% of young homebuyers received a cash gift, and 11% used an inheritance for their down payment. As of 2024, the average down payment on a home was $63,000, or roughly 16.3% of the overall home price — a significant sum for younger homebuyers to front without help from family. Younger buyers might also be struggling with other financial obligations like student loans and high rents. Parental support isn't new, and Gen Z and millennials are fully tapping into it amid rising costs of living. Many younger people are opting to live with their parents, especially in expensive markets such as the Northeast and the West. Read the original article on Business Insider Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
CNBC
22-07-2025
- Business
- CNBC
'Not clear' ending capital gains tax on homes would help housing market, says Redfin's Fairweather
Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via Email 'Not clear' ending capital gains tax on homes would help housing market, says Redfin's Fairweather Daryl Fairweather, Redfin chief economist, joins 'Fast Money' to talk how Pres. Trump's proposal to end capital gains tax on homes.
Business Insider
22-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Rate buydowns, negotiations, and nepo money: Here's how people are affording homes in today's market
With high mortgage rates and home prices, buyers are struggling. Some are getting creative with rate buydowns and negotiations. Other buyers are seeking down payment assistance from their parents. With high mortgage rates and home prices outpacing wage growth, it's easy to find yourself wondering how anybody is buying a house in today's economy. Homes have been unaffordable for many Americans in recent year, especially as prices skyrocketed after the pandemic and never really came back down to earth. It doesn't look like the outlook for next year will be any better, either. Mortgage rates are expected to remain high, exacerbating the lock-in effect and keeping existing home sales low, Goldman Sachs said in a recent report. To crack into the market, buyers are getting creative, whether through different financing structures, bargaining, or tapping into generational wealth. Rate buydowns With mortgage rates hovering near 7%, more homeowners are opting for a rate buydown to decrease their monthly costs. According to Goldman Sachs, the prevalence of rate buydowns has increased drastically post-pandemic, with roughly 40% new home sales involving a temporary rate buydown. Temporary rate buydowns reduce the buyer's interest rate for the first few years before the full rate kicks in. You can also buy mortgage points upfront to lower your rate for the full term of the loan. One point is typically 1% of the overall mortgage and lowers the interest rate by 0.25%. Sometimes, homebuilders or sellers will also offer rate buydowns to close a sale faster. "It is something that we're seeing more of right now," Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin, said of rate buydowns. It's a good strategy if you have more cash upfront and you're planning to stay in the house for the long term, Fairweather said. However, if you're planning on selling or if rates come down in the near term, a rate buydown might not be the best option. "If you end up selling a year or two from now, then you just bought those points, but you're not actually ever going to use them," Fairweather told Business Insider. Negotiations Affordability might be constrained, but buyers may still have room to negotiate. Sellers who purchased their homes during the pandemic are realizing that demand for homes has come down amid economic uncertainty. Sellers now outnumber buyers, and especially in hot pandemic markets like Florida and Texas, homes are sitting on the market for longer. Sellers are offering concessions such as cash, closing costs, repairs, and mortgage buydowns to entice buyers and close the deal. "Now that it's more of a buyer's market, buyers are taking their time. They realize that they can get a different home if the seller isn't being reasonable," Fairweather said. Additionally, with slowing rent growth, buyers can afford to be patient instead of rushing into the housing market. Goldman Sachs expects year-over-year shelter inflation to drop from 4.1% today to 2.6% by December 2026. "They can go to the rental market, where rents are pretty flat, and they can wait it out another year if they don't feel like the market has shifted enough in their favor," Fairweather said. Nepo money And finally, some homebuyers are getting help from family. A Redfin study from earlier this month found that nearly a quarter of Gen Z and millennial homebuyers who recently bought a home received assistance from their families through either a cash gift or an inheritance. Almost 21% of young homebuyers received a cash gift, and 11% used an inheritance for their down payment. As of 2024, the average down payment on a home was $63,000, or roughly 16.3% of the overall home price — a significant sum for younger homebuyers to front without help from family. Younger buyers might also be struggling with other financial obligations like student loans and high rents. Parental support isn't new, and Gen Z and millennials are fully tapping into it amid rising costs of living. Many younger people are opting to live with their parents, especially in expensive markets such as the Northeast and the West.
