The Federal Reserve (the Fed) meets this week, and expectations are high that they'll cut the Federal Funds Rate. But does that mean mortgage rates will drop? Let's clear up the confusion.
Right now, all eyes are on the Fed. Most economists expect they'll cut the Federal Funds Rate at their mid-September meeting to try to head off a potential recession.
According to the CME FedWatch Tool, markets are already betting on it. There's virtually a 100% chance of a September cut. And based on what we know now, there's about a 92% chance it'll be a small cut (25 basis points) and an 8% chance it will be a bigger cut (50 basis points):
Waiting for the perfect buyer to fall in love with your house? In today's market, that's usually not what's holding things up. And here's why.
Let's be real. Homes are taking a week longer to sell than they did a year ago. According to Realtor.com:
"Homes are also taking longer to sell. The typical home spent 60 days on the market in August, seven days longer than last year and now above pre-pandemic norms for the second consecutive month. This was the 17th straight month of year-over-year increases in time on market."
Part of that is because there are more homes on the market. So, with more options for buyers to choose from, they aren't getting snatched up quite as fast. But there's another big reason: price.
August is usually a month where home buyers with young children close their purchases and get settled before school starts. It is also a month in which sellers who didn't sell their properties during the peak summer selling season consider their next options. Often, for those who really need to sell, lowering the asking price can be the answer. For others, taking their property off the market may make more sense. However, in 2025, the August Bend home sales reflected a mixed market with prices up, closings up, inventory up and days on market up.
When August 2025 is compared with August 2024, th...
If your selling strategy still assumes you'll get multiple offers over asking, it's officially time for a reset. That frenzied seller's market is behind us. And here are the numbers to prove it.
Right now, about 50% of homes on the market are selling for less than their asking price, according to the latest data from Cotality.
But that isn't necessarily bad news, even if it feels like it. Here's why. The wild run-up over the last few years was never going to be sustainable. The housing market needed a reset, and data shows that's exactly what's happening right now.
The graph below uses data from Zillow to sh...
Now that the market is slowing down, homeowners who haven't sold at the price they were hoping for are increasingly pulling their homes off the market. According to the latest data from Realtor.com, the number of homeowners taking their homes off the market is up 38% since the start of this year and 48% since the same time last June. For every 100 new listings in June, about 21 homes were taken off the market.
And if you've made that same choice, you're probably frustrated things didn't go the way you wanted. It's hard when you feel like the market isn't working with you. But while slowdowns can be painful in the moment, history tells us they don't last forever.
This isn't the first time the housing market has experienced a slowdown. Here are some other notable times when home sales dropped significantly: