Record high housing costs and economic uncertainty are sidelining homebuyers across the country, according to a report out Thursday from Redfin. Mortgage-purchase applications are down 6% from March and pending sales are also down year-on-year — especially in warm weather markets like Miami and Houston.
Some of of these would-be buyers may be nervous about job security, said Bryan Glasshagel who covers Texas markets for the real estate data firm Zonda.
“And when you put those two together, buyers making the biggest purchase probably they'll make in their life when you've got lower consumer confidence and employment uncertainty. It kind of gives you a pause a little bit,” he said.
But some are buying homes anyway. Like newcomers from other states and countries, said Susan Annoura with the Houston Association of Realtors.
“Luckily, Houston’s such a hotbed for, you know, inbound migration. We have a lot of new people coming to the city constantly I think that helps tremendously with the demand,” she said.
As for those already living in Houston?
“They may be more hesitant to buy, because they know, you know, the history of what's been going on, you know, with the market up and down, and they may be pausing,” Annoura said.
And Jonathan Lickstein, 2025 President of Broward, Palm Beaches & St. Lucie Realtors, said while those areas are on the edge of becoming buyer’s markets, the high costs associated with buying property are deterrents.
“Interest rates, property taxes and home insurance, that are just such high expenses, it decreases the capability of a buyer to hit the price point that they would like to hit,” he said.
The average Joe may be holding back on buying a home, he said, but “we're seeing a lot more sales activity in the luxury marketplace from $2 to $8 million.”
High-end cash buyers are boosting the South Florida housing market, said economist Gay Cororaton with the Miami Association of Realtors.
“For Miami-Dade County, 25% of sales are now million-dollars. Compare that to just 7% share back in 2019,” she said.
Today’s market conditions in Miami favor those buying in the upper price tier of the market, Cororaton added.
