With this week’s half-percent rate cut from the Federal Reserve, agents are hoping sellers will finally get off the fence and loosen up some inventory to get the market moving.
Whether it’s refining your business model, mastering new technologies, or discovering strategies to capitalize on the next market surge, Inman Connect New York will prepare you to take bold steps forward. The Next Chapter is about to begin. Be part of it. Join us and thousands of real estate leaders Jan. 22-24, 2025.
Each week on The Download, Inman’s Christy Murdock takes a deeper look at the top-read stories of the week to give you what you’ll need to meet Monday head-on. This week: Is this week’s half-percent rate cut from the Federal Reserve the boost we’ve been waiting for to get sellers in the game?
Even at the best of times, real estate agents deal with uncertainty on every hand, from market conditions, economic factors and good ol’ human nature. The p——-ast year or two, however, has seen challenges stacked on top of each other.
Among these challenges, perhaps the most impactful for both buyers and sellers has been the rise in interest rates as part of the Federal Reserve’s effort to fight runaway inflation.
TAKE THE INMAN INTEL INDEX SURVEY FOR SEPTEMBER
For too long, buyers and sellers have been in a holding pattern as agents and brokers treaded water in the face of a down market and regulatory uncertainty. For sellers, high interest rates made it practically impossible to move up, requiring them to trade in their rock-bottom pandemic-era interest rate. For buyers, high interest rates were just one more financial challenge on top of tight inventory and sky-high home prices.
EXTRA: Existing-home sales continue to slide as buyers bide their time:
Can this week’s much-anticipated Federal Reserve rate cut juice the market and get consumers on both sides of the table ready to move?
After it raised interest rates to the highest level in more than…