June 3, 2022
- The ¸é±ð²¹±ô³Ù´Ç°ù.³¦´Ç³¾Â® economics team update gives you the relevant economic and real estate information you need to know to navigate the housing market as a homebuyer, home seller, or industry professional.
- This week, Chief Economist Danielle Hale discusses the May jobs report, and what the figures mean for workers, companies looking to hire, and the overall economy.Â
- Danielle notes that this week’s mortgage rates dipped for a third week, as discussed by colleague Hannah Jones, while Case-Shiller index data show that home prices rose by a record high rate this spring. Combined, these two variables mean homebuyers are still facing much higher mortgage costs relative to one year ago.Â
- Danielle also discusses the Realtor.com May Housing Trends Report which highlights some pivotal movement in the housing market in May, what might be called a real estate refresh. Danielle zooms in on the latest weekly data to show how trends progressed throughout the month and caps off the update with a discussion of which markets are seeing more homeowners decide to sell.
- Find details along with ¸é±ð²¹±ô³Ù´Ç°ù.³¦´Ç³¾Â® housing data for download at Big gaming/research. And follow us on : , for real time updates.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
- ±õ’m Danielle Hale, Chief Economist for Realtor.com® and here’s what you need to know as we head into June.Â
- First, the blockbuster monthly jobs report is out. It showed that the economy continued to add jobs in May. Leisure & hospitality, professional & business services, and transportation & warehousing industries saw the biggest growth over the last month. Meanwhile the unemployment rate was flat and paychecks grew.ÌýÌý
- This report follows the more detailed picture of April hiring that showed more than 11 million job openings, or nearly 2 positions for every out-of-work person looking to find a role while the number & rate of job quitting is down slightly from recent highs.Â
- Highlighting the strain this is putting on some firms, data showed that over half of small businesses had job openings that they could not fill in May.
- A healthy jobs market generally boosts consumer confidence, but data actually show a small decline as consumers were somewhat less upbeat about the jobs market in May and also less optimistic about the near-term outlook despite a greater share expecting income growth.Â
- In housing, mortgage rates dipped slightly as investors continue to evaluate long-term economic prospects against a rising short-term interest rate environment. Despite the dip, rates remain much higher than last year, raising the stakes for today’s homebuyers.
- Also, Case-Shiller data showed that home prices rose by a record high. This data is notably backward looking, covering home sales in January, February, and March, a time when mortgage rates were much lower than they are now but rising rapidly.
- Looking ahead to our May Housing Trends Report we see that while home prices are still advancing to a new record, we’re also seeing the beginning of a real estate refresh in the form of a larger number of homes for sale. While this real estate refresh is welcome news in a still-undersupplied market, it has yet to make a dent in median home price growth for three main reasons. One, we’re seeing more larger homes for sale, two, despite improvement the number of homes for sale is much lower than in pre-pandemic years, and three, the typical seller outlook is quite high, likely shaped by the of homeowners who sold recently.
- As for-sale listings grow, we expect competitiveness to ease, but we’re just not seeing it yet.
- In fact, looking at the weekly data shows that median home list prices continue to accelerate and time on market is nearly a week shorter this year compared to last. Diving into regional trends, some homeowners are getting the message and deciding to take advantage. The biggest gains in newly listed homes for sale were largely in the most-competitive Sun Belt markets.
- You’ll find the details and our housing data for download at Big gaming/research. And follow us on for real time updates.
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