{"id":10941,"date":"2023-02-20T09:38:32","date_gmt":"2023-02-20T17:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stevesaretsky.com\/?p=10941"},"modified":"2023-02-20T09:42:27","modified_gmt":"2023-02-20T17:42:27","slug":"social-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stevesaretsky.com\/2023\/02\/news\/social-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Happy Monday Morning!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
National housing figures dropped this past week, and it wasn\u2019t pretty. January home sales fell 37% year-over-year, a sharp decline from the blistering hot bull market of January 2022. When you zoom out further, this January was the slowest since 2009.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, balancing this out was a dearth of supply trickling to market. New listings for the month of January came in at their lowest levels since the year 2000. Yes, we just recorded a 23 year low of new listings coming to market. The nations housing market is currently starved of inventory, which is ultimately the largest driver behind the sudden resurgence of multiple offers popping up across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A housing market deprived of sales volume is ultimately a big drag on the economy. When houses don\u2019t transact people don\u2019t need lawyers, mortgage brokers, inspectors, contractors, and new furniture, just to name a few.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s certainly true that the chronic shortage of new inventory coming to market is providing a floor for house prices, although plenty of damage has already been inflicted. National home prices, as measured by the Home Price Index, fell 12.6% year-over-year in January. Since peaking last year, the index is down 18%, by far the sharpest correction since the index was created in 2005.<\/p>\n\n\n\n