Home sales hit a wall, falling 18% in a single month — the worst since the 2008 crisis.
The problem is mortgage rates: They’re too high to buy, but sellers are trapped in cheap Covid-era mortgages.
Worse, oil prices are now hiking mortgage rates even higher. pic.twitter.com/WD27c5AkHK
— Peter St Onge, Ph.D. (@profstonge) March 24, 2026
Home sales hit a wall, falling 18% in a single month — the worst since the 2008 crisis. The problem is mortgage rates: They’re too high to buy, but sellers are trapped in cheap Covid-era mortgages. Worse, oil prices are now hiking mortgage rates even higher.
- No problem at all. Keep deporting until the market is absolutely flooded and prices drop 50%. That’s where they SHOULD be. We had enough housing before a million died from COVID. Realtors, builders, landlords, banks, EVERYBODY has been riding the gravy train for too long. – NW
- Would portability of mortgages enhance liquidity in the housing market? Concept: Pay a fee to “re-underwrite” an existing mortgage to “transfer” it to the new property a home owner would like to move to. Results: Labor can relocate at lower cost. Banks no worse off. SM
- There is more than one reason why Real Estate Market is hitting a wall. For starters: 1. Prices are at least 30%+ too high. 2. Sellers w/ 3% mortgage won’t sell (why should they)? 3. 6.5%+ current % rates 4. Property Taxes have skyrocketed in past 5 years 5. Inflation / economy What else? – Ridge York
- Low rates are irrelevant if prices drop 30%? Prices are the key to true non bubble affordability. They will fall now and increase exponentially with job losses that are mounting. – John R
- Mortgage rates are only party of the problem. The prices are too high. People think their houses are worth what they were when interest rates were low. Average $400K house should be $160K. – DJ
- People “waiting for the crash” as if expecting to get low prices on decent homes in decent areas will be waiting a long time. This is not 2008, when a lot of owners were living paycheck to paycheck, strung out on variable-rate mortgages with loans they could not afford. Many homeowners right now have locked-in monthly payments around $2k, overall lower consumer debt levels and nearly double the savings from the average in 2008. They might be annoyed by having to stay in their current homes but they can hunker down and service the debt forever if necessary. *Decent* homes which sink in price enough to make a realistic difference to a middle-class buyer will be far and few in between. The ONLY way we will get a true crash is if a prolonged, deep recession or depression leads to a massive unemployment and forces out even the folks on 2% loans. But if that happens, the malaise will be impacting the buyers just as much as the sellers. I am not a doomer but the truth is this: There will be no easy out. Decades of poor economic policy have screwed. There is no easy out. – Sharples E












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