With the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates by half a percentage point this week, real estate agents are hoping that sellers will finally change their tune and add some inventory to get the market moving.
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Every week in The Download, Inman’s Christy Murdock breaks down the week’s most-read stories to give you the information you need to take Monday head on: Will the Federal Reserve’s half-percentage-point cut this week be the much-needed boost to get sellers into the market?
Even in the best of times, real estate agents face uncertainty on all fronts – market conditions, economic factors and human nature – but the past year or two have seen the challenges mount.
Of these challenges, perhaps the most impactful for both buyers and sellers is the rise in interest rates as part of the Federal Reserve’s efforts to combat runaway inflation.
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Buyers and sellers have been left hanging for a long time as real estate agents and brokers tread water in the face of a sluggish market and regulatory uncertainty. For sellers, high interest rates made it virtually impossible to move up the rate, forcing them to trade at the lowest rates of the pandemic era. For buyers, high interest rates were just one more financial challenge on top of a lack of inventory and soaring home prices.
MORE NEWS: Existing home sales continue to decline as buyers wait longer:
Could this week’s highly anticipated Federal Reserve rate cut spur markets and get consumers on both sides ready to take action?
After raising interest rates to their highest level in more than two decades to fight inflation, the Federal Reserve on Wednesday cut the federal funds rate by half a percentage point and signaled that rates could fall by 2 percentage points by the end of 2025.
According to a “dot plot” of expected future rate cuts, the Fed is expected to cut rates another half percentage point to 4.25 percent to 4.50 percent by the end of this year, with another 1 percentage point cut planned for next year.
In announcing the rate cut, Fed policymakers said they were increasingly confident that inflation was heading toward 2 percent sustainably, but also noted that “the economic outlook remains uncertain.”
More: Fed’s big rate cuts not a panacea for housing market: Fitch
Knowing how to understand the numbers and act on the market-related clues they give you can make all the difference between the success or failure of your real estate business. Luckily, our economic, operational and motivational experts are on hand this week to help you take the right actions in the coming weeks and months.
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A great team leader will focus on business development and agent development, and the results can be amazing. Verl Workman I am writing.
