Housing Market Hits a Wall as Economic Jitters Stall Sales

The spring housing market — typically a peak period for U.S. home sales — just logged its weakest season since 2012, as price cuts and incentives failed to coax wary buyers off the sidelines.

Pending home sales from April through June hit a 13-year low, according to Redfin data reported by Bloomberg. Mortgage rates briefly dipped and inventory saw a modest rebound earlier this year, but any hopes of a turnaround have been undercut by economic headwinds, including political uncertainty and consumer fears stoked by tariff threats.

A sense of malaise has taken hold, even as prices keep climbing in parts of the country.

U.S. home prices grew 2.3 percent in May year over year, according to Bloomberg, the slowest increase in nearly two years and the fourth straight month of decelerated growth, per S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller. Affordability remains dire, thanks to persistently high borrowing costs and still-elevated price tags.

“Nothing has changed on that front,” Thomas Ryan of Capital Economics, told the publication.

Agents on the ground are feeling the pain. In Atlanta, Glennda Baker is sitting on 21 unsold listings despite aggressive price cuts. “Price doesn’t solve uncertainty,” she said to Bloomberg.

Buyers, it seems, have lost faith that lower mortgage rates will come to the rescue. Many are renting instead, or simply waiting. And while sellers had the upper hand for most of the past three years, that balance has shifted — especially in Sun Belt markets like Las Vegas and parts of Florida, where supply is up and buyers are scarce.

Builders sweetening the deal with mortgage buydowns and closing cost assistance are making it even harder for individual sellers to compete.

Still, the pain isn’t evenly distributed. Prices are still rising fastest in New York, Chicago and Detroit. In contrast, places like Tampa, San Francisco and Dallas have seen modest price dips. Geography, as always, is destiny.

With stocks and confidence rising, there’s cautious hope that some delayed spring deals could trickle into summer. But no one’s betting on a meaningful rebound. The broader picture is one of stasis: buyers frozen by financial anxiety, sellers clinging to pandemic-era price expectations and a market waiting for a signal yet to arrive.

— Holden Walter-Warner