A “For Sale” sign on a house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, on Friday, Aug. 16, 2024.
Joe Lamberti | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The U.S. housing market continues to weaken, as potential buyers face stubbornly high mortgage rates, high prices and limited supply of listings.
Sales of previously-owned homes fell 4.9% in January from the prior month to 4.08 million units on a seasonally-adjusted, annualized basis, according to the National Association of Realtors. Analysts were expecting a 2.6% decline.
Sales were 2% higher than January 2024, but are still running at a roughly 15-year low.
This read is based on closings, so contracts likely signed in November and December when mortgage rates came down from over 7% to the 6% range.
“Mortgage rates have refused to budge for several months despite multiple rounds of short-term interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the NAR. “When combined with…
