T
he US housing market has stalled, with the aggregate value of homes for sale reaching an all-time high of $700 billion. Despite a record amount of unsold inventory, buyers have yet to be lured into the market in 2025. This year was supposed to see a surge in buying activity, but macro uncertainty has kept the market frozen.
According to Redfin data, sellers are sitting on a massive amount of unsold housing stock, with 44% of listings – worth around $331 billion – having been on the market for over 60 days. Typically, a flood of inventory would lead to lower prices, but in this case, home prices continue to rise.
The main factors holding back buyers are mortgage rates and prices. The 30-year mortgage rate has barely budged this year, hovering just below 7%, and top forecasters expect it to end the year only slightly lower. Goldman Sachs analysts predict a slight dip to 6.75% by year-end.
Economic anxiety is also contributing to the weak demand in the US housing market. The gap between "soft" data points (weak consumer sentiment and inflation expectations) and "hard" data points (backward-looking economic indicators used by the Fed) has been a major theme this year. This uncertainty, fueled by factors like tariffs and inflation, is dampening the housing market.
Consumers and investors will get key updates on inflation and sentiment this week, with May inflation data due out on Wednesday and the latest consumer sentiment reading published on Friday.
