The Housing Market Is Worse Than You Think
Runaway mortgage rates, spiking prices and a severe inventory shortage are making it tougher than ever to buy a house. Although active listings were up 27 percent in September 2021 over the same month a year earlier—and Phoenix led the pack of top 50 metro areas, with listings up 167 percent—they’re still 40 percent lower than September 2019. Demand for rentals, meanwhile, has slowed, and so have rents, but they’re still up from a year ago and are unlikely to drop to pre-pandemic levels.
