Best week of 2025
Mortgage rates are expected to move to the mid-to-low 6% range by year’s end. In 2024, mortgage rates did not exceed their fall 2023 peak, but neither did they ease significantly. Altogether, buyers have faced nearly 2.5 years of 6%+ mortgage rates, and so far in 2025, rates have hovered near 7%. We do expect mortgage rates to ease this year as inflation gets closer to the 2% target level, but deviations from this trend, as we saw in some of the early-year data, will create bumps in mortgage rates and proverbial bumps in the road for homebuyers. While inflation and employment data are key inputs to the Federal Open Market Committee’s upcoming rate decisions, we’ve seen that policy announcements can move rates, too. Mortgage rates are expected to trend lower. Even so, sellers and buyers would be wise to rate-proof their budgets by planning their reactions to a sudden uptick or easing of rates.
Prices tend to peak later, as does competition. Sellers should consider that peak prices later in the season also come with greater competition from other sellers for a similar-sized pool of buyers. Historically, by the end of June, while prices reached near-peak levels (+7.6% in 2024) compared to the start of the year, new sellers also surged, increasing to nearly 1.5 times higher than at the start of the year (+46.2%). More sellers in the market is great for buyers, but less stellar for other sellers. Homeowners hoping to sell this year can mitigate that risk by getting into the market early, raising their already high odds of a successful close and likely negotiating favorable terms.
Uncertainty Could Factor into Buyer and Seller Confidence – Though inflation has eased over the last few months, the path forward is not certain given the current administration’s various economic priorities and proposals. Specifically, tariffs could make homebuilding far more expensive in the U.S., and could hurt the housing market both via higher inflation (which keeps mortgage rates high) and by limiting homebuilding activity. On the other hand, the administration has signaled their intent to address housing affordability, which could benefit the market. It is too soon to tell how these proposals will play out, and it’s important to acknowledge that individual perspectives can influence whether policies create more or less enthusiasm, but buyers and sellers may be hesitant to make any big moves until the future is a bit more clear.
FULL ARTICLE HERE:
https://www.realtor.com/research/best-time-to-sell-2025/