Skip to main content
Monday, June 9, 2025
Home
Omaha Daily Record
  • Login
  • Home
  • Subscribe
  • Calendar
    • Real Estate
    • Small Business
    • Non-Profit
    • Political
    • Legal
  • Podcasts
    • Real Estate
    • Small Business
    • Non-Profit
    • Political
    • Legal
  • Profiles
    • Real Estate
    • Small Business
    • Non-Profit
    • Political
    • Legal
  • E-Edition
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
  • Real Estate News
    • Market Trends
  • Business News
  • Non-Profit News
  • Political News
  • Legal News
  • Editorial
    • Empower You
    • The Serial Entrepreneur
    • Tom Becka
  • Other News
  • Public Records
    • Wreck Permits
    • Building Permits
    • Electrical Permits
    • Mechanical Permits
    • Plumbing Permits
  • Real Estate Leads
    • Notice of Default
    • Active Property Sales
    • Active Probates
    • Deeds
  • Public Notices
    • State of Nebraska
    • City of Bennington
    • City of Gretna
    • City of Valley
    • Douglas County West Community Schools
    • Gretna Public Schools
    • Omaha Airport Authority
    • Omaha Housing Authority
    • Plattsmouth Community Schools
    • City of Omaha
    • Douglas County
      • Tax Delinqueny 2025
    • City/County Notice of Bids
    • City of Ralston
    • Omaha Public Schools
    • Millard Public Schools
    • Ralston Public Schools
    • Westside Community Schools
    • Bennington Public Schools
    • Learning Community
    • MAPA
    • MECA
    • Omaha Airport Authority
    • Village of Boys Town
    • Village of Waterloo
    • Sarpy County
      • Tax Delinquency 2025
    • City of Bellevue
  • Advertise
    • Place a Legal Notice
    • Place a Print Ad
    • Place a Classified Ad
    • Place an Online Ad
    • Place Sponsored Content
  • Available For Hire
    • Real Estate
      • Contractors
      • Clerical
    • Legal
      • Paralegal
      • Clerical
  • About
    • Our History
    • Our Office
    • Our Staff
    • Contact Us

You are here

Home » Lower Mortgage Rates Prompt Home Owners To List Properties, But Housing Supply Remains Constrained

Lower Mortgage Rates Prompt Home Owners To List Properties, But Housing Supply Remains Constrained

Published by jason@omahadail... on Thu, 01/18/2024 - 2:00am

(David Schildman / The Daily Record)
By 
Alex Veiga
The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The recent pullback in mortgage rates is spurring more homeowners to put their homes up for sale, though the increases so far have been too modest to return the housing market's inventory of available properties back to pre-pandemic levels.

The number of active listings, a tally of U.S. homes on the market that excludes those pending a finalized sale, climbed 4.9% to 714,176 in December from a year earlier, the biggest annual increase since June, according to data released this week by Realtor.com.

A big part of the increase was due to a 9.1% jump in new listings, or properties that made their market debut in December, which posted an annual increase for the second time after 17 months of declines.

As is typically the case, active listings declined in December from the previous month, falling 5.5%. But the drop was less than the typical decline of 6.8% to 13.2%, Realtor.com said.

While the pickup in home listings is a welcome development for prospective homebuyers, the housing market remains constrained with for-sale inventory still well below pre-pandemic levels.

Consider that active listings were down 30.9% compared in December compared to the same month in 2019, while new listings were down nearly 12%.

"It's definitely a step in the right direction for the housing market," said Danielle Hale, Realtor.com's chief economist. "But we'll need to see this repeated not just in November and December, but into January and February in order to really turn around the inventory situation in the housing market."

Many factors have contributed to the housing market's chronic shortage of homes for sale, including more than a decade of below-average new home construction and demographic trends that have led to homeowners hanging on to their properties longer.

While homebuilders have stepped up construction, the biggest source of for-sale inventory is homeowners who put their home on the market. But years of soaring home prices and the large gap that exists between where mortgage rates are now and where they were just a couple of years ago has discouraged many who locked in rock-bottom rates from selling.

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage has declined in recent weeks since reaching 7.79% in late October, and was at 6.66% as of this week, according to Freddie Mac.

And housing economists expect that the average rate will continue to decline this year, though forecasts generally see it moving no lower than 6%.

That may not be enough to motivate many homeowners to sell, given that some two-thirds of U.S. homes have a mortgage with a rate under 4% and more than 90% have a rate below 6%.

That means the upcoming spring homebuying season is likely to favor sellers as homebuyers compete for a relatively limited number of homes for sale.

Category:

  • Real Estate News

User login

  • Request new password

            

Latest Podcasts

  • Real Estate
  • Political
  • Political
  • Real Estate

Nebraska Landlord

Betches Sup - A Liberal News Commentary

Ruthless - A Conservative News Commentary

REIA Radio Show

Omaha Daily Record

The Daily Record
222 South 72nd Street, Suite 302
Omaha, Nebraska
68114
United States

Tele (402) 345-1303
Fax (402) 345-2351
 

The Daily Record
222 South 72nd Street, Suite 302 | Omaha, Nebraska 68114 | United States | Tele (402) 345-1303 | Fax (402) 345-2351 | Sitemap
Site Design, Programming & Development by Surf New Media