Rising home prices and rising mortgage rates are pushing prospective home sellers out of the market, according to Redfin’s latest consumer insights. Redfin partnered with Ipsos to survey 1,802 U.S. adults about their housing choices.
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Rising home prices and rising mortgage rates are pushing prospective home sellers out of the market, according to Redfin’s latest consumer insights.
Redfin partnered with Ipsos to survey 1,802 U.S. adults about their housing choices. Of the 738 homeowners who answered questions about future sales plans, 34% said they would never sell their home. Another 27% said they wouldn’t sell their home for at least another 10 years, and 24% said they would consider selling their home within the next five to 10 years. Baby boomers (43%) were the most likely to say it would never sell, followed by Gen X at 34%, and Millennials and Gen Z at 28%.
Homeowners’ reasons for staying put include having a paid or near-paid mortgage (39%), liking their current home (37%), and unaffordable pricing trends in the current market. (30%) and rising mortgage interest rates (18%). ). Family obligations (16.1%), high homeowner association dues (7.9%), and exorbitant home insurance costs (4.5%) also contributed to homeowners’ lower motivation for advancement.
Marije Kreifthoff |Credit: Redfin
“Moving companies, people who keep moving just because they want a bigger, better home, are mainly concerned about buying a new home,” said Marije Kruisoff, an agent with Los Angeles Redfin Premier. Because it’s expensive,” he said in a prepared statement. “People who are selling are selling because they have to. They’re relocating to another part of the country or because of a major life event like having a baby or a new job on the other side of the city. I’m moving.”
Redfin said reduced voluntary movements will continue to weigh on the market as inventory levels struggle to recover to pre-pandemic trends.
“…While listings have started to increase in recent months, a recent Redfin analysis shows that just 25 out of 1,000 U.S. homes changed hands in the first eight months of 2024, the lowest in decades. ,” the report states. “Housing costs are significantly higher than they were before the pandemic. Since then, home prices have increased by about 40 per cent, with average weekly mortgage rates of 6.91 per cent, up from just under 4 per cent in 2019.”
The decline in voluntary migration accelerated in 2024, but this is not a new trend.
Inman Intel has considered “voluntary relocation” to end in October 2023 as homebuyers become more stringent about their real estate plans as market headwinds increase. Representatives told Intel that most home buyers move because of life events such as a new job, marriage or divorce, or the birth of a child. When making these moves, they tend to look for homes in more affordable areas, tend to stick to off-the-shelf properties, and often offer higher down payments or pay cash for a home. I was able to purchase it.
Economists expect mortgage rates to hover around 6% for the next one to two years, so there could be more similar homebuyers next year. Existing home sales are expected to reach 4.25 million units by the end of 2025, with most of the sales coming from homebuyers who need to move.
“Unless economic growth begins to slow significantly, we expect mortgage rates to remain elevated relative to pre-pandemic levels, declining slightly to around 6% by the end of 2025,” Inman said in his year-end economic review. “I am doing so,” he said. “However, given the resilience of economic growth, the persistence of inflation, and continued uncertainty about future policy changes, we expect mortgage rates to be more volatile next year.”
“According to Realtor.com, inventory levels are near or above pre-pandemic norms in many Sunbelt states, including Florida and Texas, as well as parts of the Mountain West region and Pacific Northwest,” it added. . “In contrast, the Midwest and Northeast have significantly fewer homes available for sale compared to 2019.”
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