The flagging economy is hurting the housing market
The faltering economy is starting to become a drag on the housing market.
Real estate agents, developers, home buyers and economists are all trying to make sense of which way trends are heading. Slower growth — the economy shrank at the beginning of 2025 — means interest and mortgage rates will probably stay high for the foreseeable future. Stock market swings and flagging consumer confidence are pushing buyers out of the market. President Donald Trump’s trade war is adding thousands to construction costs for new homes and remodels.
“Markets work because people have price knowledge, and they have those prices to make decisions,” said Robert Dietz, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders. But so much uncertainty, Dietz said, is creating a “wait-and-see economy.”
A house is often a household’s single largest investment or asset, and buying or selling can be one of life’s biggest financial decisions. Entire budgets are structured around monthly mortgage payments or rent. So what happens in the housing market reverberates through the entire economy, and vice versa. Experts look to the number of homes for sale or list prices as litmus tests for how the broader economy is faring. And conversely, housing affordability and availability are among the most direct ways people feel the economy in their daily lives. Keeping a close read on the market is especially key when a range of economic indicators are flashing warnings without clear answers as to what they mean.
https://wapo.st/4cYWrUK
It's the Trump economy.
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