After two years of record-setting activity, there are signs the housing market might be cooling. High home prices and a surge in mortgage interest rates are slowing buyer activity, with home sales declining for the third consecutive month under the weight of soaring homeownership costs. The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) reports existing home sales were down 2.4% from the previous month, while pending sales fell 3.9% as of last measure, extending the trend of recent months. Economists predict sales will continue to soften in the near future, which may put downward pressure on home prices.
The slowdown in sales has provided a much-needed lift to housing supply, with inventory up 10.8% from the previous month according to NAR, although supply remains down 10.4% compared to this time last year, with only 2.2 months’ supply of homes at the current sales pace. As the nation continues to explore ways to solve the ongoing housing shortage, estimated at 5.5 million homes, the Biden administration recently unveiled the Housing Supply Action Plan, which aims to expand housing access through a number of administrative and legislative actions and help relieve the nation’s housing crisis over the next 5 years.
The Bottom line:
The housing market is showing signs of cooling down and economists predict that sales will continue to soften in the near future. This in turn could result in that much needed downward pressure on home prices. The slowdown in sales also allowed inventory to catch up a bit with the demand, although it is still around 10% lower than what it was this time last year.
Let’s take a look at some of the numbers from the May 2022 real estate report released by the Great Plains Regional MLS.
May 2022 Omaha Area Real Estate Statistics
Average Sold Price: $336,367 (Up 13.5% from May 2021)
Homes Sold: 1,255 (Down 12.4% from May 2021)
New Listings: 1,649 (Down 1.4% from May 2021)
Pending Listings: 1,366 (Down 10.1% from May 2021)
Days on the Market: 9 Days (Down 10.0% from May 2021)
All data from Great Plains Regional MLS. Report © 2022 ShowingTime.
This report covers residential real estate activity in the Omaha area, which includes the counties of Dodge, Douglas, Sarpy, Saunders and Washington in Nebraska; the counties of Harrison, Mills and Pottawattamie in Iowa. Sources: Freddie Mac, Great Plains Regional MLS, and ShowingTime
