The spring housing market has been surprisingly active this year. Even with affordability challenges and a limited number of homes for sale, buyer demand is strong, and getting stronger.One way we know there are interested buyers right now is because showing traffic is up. Data from the latest ShowingTime Showing Index, which is a measure of buyers actively touring homes, makes it clear more people are out looking at homes than there were prior to the pandemic (see graph below):And though theres less traffic than the buyer frenzy of the past couple of years, were not far off that pace. There are a lot of interested buyers checking out available homes right now.But why are buyers so active at a time when mortgage rates are higher than they were just last year?The Job Market Is Growing at... 05/23/2023

The Best Time To Sell Your House Is When Others Aren't Selling If you're thinking about selling your house, you should know the number of homes for sale right now is low. Thats because, this season, there are fewer sellers listing their houses for sale than the norm.Looking back at every April since 2017, the only year when fewer sellers listed their homes was in April 2020, when the pandemic hit and stalled the housing market (shown in red in the graph below). In more typical years, roughly 500,000 sellers add their homes to the market in April. This year, we saw fewer than 400,000 sellers entering the market in April (see graph below):While there are a number of factors contributing to this trend, one thing keeping inventory low right now is that some homeowners are reluctant to move ... 05/13/2023

The Three Factors Affecting Home Affordability Today Theres been a lot of focus on higher mortgage rates and how they're creating affordability challenges for todays homebuyers. Its true that rates climbed dramatically since the record-low we saw during the pandemic. But home affordability is based on more than just mortgage rates its determined by a combination of mortgage rates, home prices, and wages.Considering how each one of these factors is changing gives you the full picture of home affordability today. Here's the latest.1. Mortgage RatesWhile mortgage rates are higher than they were a year ago, they've hovered primarily between 6% and 7% for nearly eight months now (see graph below):As the graph shows, mortgage rates have experienced some volatility during that time. And even a... 05/04/2023