April 25, 2025
Reports and articles referenced:
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
- I’m Danielle Hale, Chief Economist at Realtor.com®. As the weather warms, I’m going to discuss the Fed’s Beige Book as well as the latest readings on new and existing home sales. I’ll cover the latest trends in mortgage rates and Realtor.com weekly housing data, as well as highlight findings from 3 reports released this week on New York City Rent Trends, the Housing Market Ranking we do in collaboration with the Wall Street Journal, and a look at Affordability and Homebuilding trends among the states.
- First, the Beige Book–which is a timely review of economic activity across the US compiled by the 12 Fed District Banks–revealed that while current economic activity was little changed, uncertainty around trade policy was “pervasive” and this and other unknowns had dimmed the economic outlook in several districts.
- The Beige Book had mixed reports on residential real estate, and a similar pattern was seen in the hard data for March. While new single-family home sales jumped, climbing above both the prior month and year, existing home sales slipped, sinking from both the prior month and year. This put the seasonally adjusted pace of existing home sales at the lowest for any March since 2009. Home sales typically gain seasonal momentum in the spring, so the next few months will be key for buyers, sellers, and the housing market.
- Mortgage rates were fairly steady this week, dropping 2 basis points. However, they remain on the higher side of their recent range.
- Weekly housing data reflected a dip in new selling activity as a result of the Easter holiday falling later this year, but the total number of homes on the market remains higher and home shoppers have more time to make decisions this year compared to last. Meanwhile, asking prices were little changed, up less than 1 percent.
- Turning to our recently published reports, while rents may be falling in many U.S markets, that’s not the case in New York City. Rents rose in all 4 boroughs that we track and the priciest boroughs–Manhattan and Brooklyn–saw the biggest rent jumps.
- In our quarterly Housing Market Ranking, a collaboration with the Wall Street Journal, we found that the highest ranked markets were concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest. Toledo, Ohio came out on top, in large part due to the affordability of its housing, which is priced nearly $200,000 below the national median U.S. home.
- This mirrors findings in our Affordability and Homebuilding Report Cards which found that states in the South and Midwest lead on current housing affordability. We also evaluated homebuilding, to see which states are making headway against the roughly 4 million home supply gap, and found that many states in the South and West are building the most homes. We ranked all 50 states and DC on these factors and found that South Carolina, Iowa, and Texas scored an ‘A.’
- You can find all the details, including full reports and our housing data for download, at realtor.com/research. You can also follow us on X (formerly twitter) for real time updates. And instagram for graphics.
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