What happened: Existing home sales dropped again in June, approaching two years of continuous yearly declines in sales.
What Zillow Senior Economist Nicole Bachaud thinks: Affordability constraints and mortgage rate lock are keeping existing homeowners from listing their homes, and with the flow of listings coming onto the market down significantly from pre-pandemic norms, sales continue to take a hit. Buyers are also feeling shut out by affordability with mortgage rates floating in the upper sixes throughout June. But even for the buyers who are finding ways to make this market work, there are few options in the existing market to choose from. Existing home sales will continue to remain suppressed while both sides of this market are feeling the heat of affordability constraints, and we will likely continue to see buyers turning their eyes towards the new construction market – which can offer incentives to tip the scales in favor of buyers budgets as well as offer more available inventory.