Too-high prices destroy demand. Everyone knows that. Lower prices would bring out demand.
By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET.
The extent to which demand for existing homes has collapsed and remains collapsed is astounding, but ultimately not surprising: Demand plunged in 2022 when mortgage rates soared, and plunged a lot further in 2023 as mortgage rates continued to rise to almost 8% by October 2023. But then as mortgage rates dropped starting in November, and kept dropping in 2024, demand stayed at these collapsed levels through September, despite mortgage rates having dropped to near 6%. And now that mortgage rates have bounced off the September lows since the rate cut, demand has collapsed further, even as inventories have been rising all year (look below the article at the top of the comments for inventory and supply charts of existing homes and new houses).