Uncertainty Holding Back Buyers

NEW YORK — High home prices and high mortgage rates have been holding buyers, and the market, back for a long time now. But a new report from Bright MLS finds the reasons people are holding off on buying and selling homes right now are shifting and increasingly have to do with what many of us are experiencing these days: economic uncertainty.

In the last month, three quarters of real estate agents have had a buyer they were working with pause their home search. Lisa Sturtevant, at Bright MLS, said that's up significantly from a year ago.

"And the reasons buyers had stopped looking was primarily due to affordability – high home prices, high mortgage rates – and while those are still a factor, growing general economic uncertainty and other financial issues have become more important reasons," said Sturtevant.

Nearly 60% of would-be buyers who paused their search last year said it was because prices and/or rates were too high. Now, less than 50% cite prices, and less than 40% mortgage rates.

"At this point, high rates are a feature of the market, not a bug… and sort of the same thing with prices, right?" said Jake Krimmel at Realtor.com.

Krimmel said it seems like buyers and sellers are getting used to it. But sellers don't seem to be getting used to the fact that price growth has slowed way down.

There's been a nearly 50% increase in people listing their home and then de-listing it.

"So, although there are more sellers on the market this year, it also appears that you know more are growing discouraged by the market itself," said Krimmel.

"More buyers are growing anxious about the uncertainty in the market, said Sturtevant.

"We've seen consumer sentiment survey data show people a little bit more anxious – when people are uncertain, they do tend to hold off on big decisions," Sturtevant said.

Decisions like buying or selling a home.

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