Housing Market Slows Amid Rising Rates | Anchorage News

0:00It's September 10th. Welcome to Anchorage News Today, powered by AI. I'm Cory with the story. The housing market saw a dip in August, with sales of existing homes falling to their lowest point in over a year. We're talking about a 2% drop from July, hitting an annual pace of just under 4 million homes. This march the third month in a row that sales have slowed down and it's happening because mortgage rates keep climbing, pushing prices higher too. This trend isn't exactly new. Mortgage rates have been on the rise since February and that directly impacts how many people can afford to buy. The National Association of Realtors pointed out that rates are hovering around 6.7% for a 30-year mortgage and some. Economists think it could hit 7% soon. Even with fewer sales, home prices are still going up. The median price for a home in August hit an all-time high for that month, reaching over $429,000. This is the 38th consecutive month of year-over-year price increases, showing how tight the market

1:03remains despite the slowdown in. Transactions What's interesting is that while sales are down, the number of homes available for sale actually went up. Inventory increased by 3.2% from July to August and it's up nearly 6% compared to last year. This means homes are sitting on the market a little longer, which is a shift from what we've seen recently. This increase in available homes, combined with the current sales pace, gives us about a 4.9-month supply. That's the highest has been in over a decade and is starting to move towards what's considered a more balanced market. It's a complex picture with fewer people buying, but prices still climbing and more homes finally hitting the market.