Americans bought houses for at least nearly 30 years

The National Real Estate Brokers Association (NAR) said that the existing house sales in 2024 reached 4.06 million units, down 0.7% compared to 2023. This is the lowest level since 1995, even low low. More than 2023, which was a gloomy market.

“How could the house sales were so low, while the US population has increased more than 70 million from 1995 to the present?”, Lawrence Yun, the economy of Nar. “A part of the answer lies in the ability to pay. Housing price at a record level, collateral increases, and a shortage supply.”

At the end of December, only 1.15 million houses were sold on the market, according to Nar. Although this figure increased by 16.2% compared to 2023, the supply is still lower than the annual average of about 1.98 million units, according to data since 1999.

Meanwhile, the average interest rate for fixed mortgage loan 30 reaches the highest level of 23 years of nearly 8% in October 2023, then slightly decreased in September 2024 but still maintained around level 7 %, according to Freddie Mac,

Combining home shortage and mortgage interest rates, the national average house price reached a record high of US $ 407,500, up 4.7% compared to 2023. Little home, buying price and high interest, millions of buyers buyers The potential still has to stand outside ..

“This shows that the issues in the US housing market continue to worsen, both in terms of available house and house price increases,” said Eugenio Aleman, Chief Economy at Raymond James.

Many factors contribute to the shortage of housing, including more than a decade of building a new house below the average level and the owner does not want to resell. Although President Donald Trump has increased the supply of housing programs, there was no quick solution to handle this problem.

Lisa Sturtevant, Chief Economy at Bright MLS, said that the average home sales in the US is about 5.2 million units per year in the past decade. “It will take many years to return to that level, may have to come to the 2030s. The shortage of supply is the main barrier,” she said.

Many economists predict that the average mortgage interest will decrease this year but they do not expect it will decrease below 6%, still nearly double compared to 5 years ago.