America's real estate market is facing another cruel summer.
For the second year in a row, sellers, agents, and analysts are mourning a spring sales bump that failed to materialize. And once again, they're pointing the finger at geopolitical turmoil: this time, it's the war in Iran, which sent borrowing rates skyward and made everyday items, notably gas, more expensive.
"The timing of all this couldn't have been worse from a housing perspective," says Rick Palacios Jr., director of research at John Burns Research and Consulting.
The past week has shown some encouraging signs of a sales pickup, and agents are still holding out hope for a turnaround in time for the typically busy summer season. But even conservative national forecasts have been revised downward, and mortgage-rate volatility remains a big question mark. Any growth right now is "very fragile," Mike Simonsen, the chief economist at Compass, tells me.
The situation varies significantly by market, of course. In a recent survey of 700 Coldwell Banker agents, the vast majority in the Midwest and Northeast said their areas were sellers' markets, compared to a mere 13% in the South and 22% in the West.
What are you seeing in your market? Let me know in the comments.
You can read my story for Business Insider here: https://lnkd.in/eAM9i_5f
Art by Tyler Le