Home Sales Take a Dip: What's Going On?

In December, the housing market saw a big drop in pending home sales. This means fewer people signed contracts to buy homes compared to the month before. Experts thought there might be a small increase, but instead, there was a big decrease of 9. 3%. This drop was felt all over the U. S. , with only the South seeing a slight increase compared to the previous year. Homes are also taking longer to sell. On average, they stayed on the market for 39 days in December, which is longer than the 35 days they took to sell in December 2024. One reason for this could be that there aren't many homes available for sale. In December, there were only 1. 18 million homes on the market, which is a 9% drop from November. Even though this number is up 12% from the previous year, it's still not enough to meet the demand.Mortgage rates didn't change much in December. The average rate for a 30-year fixed loan was around 6. 25%, which is a bit lower than it was over the summer. However, even with slightly lower rates, people are still hesitant to buy homes because there aren't many options available. This drop in pending home sales could be a sign that people are feeling unsure about the housing market. They might be waiting for more homes to become available before making a big decision like buying a house.