(The Epoch Times)—The median housing payment in the United States hit $2,647 per month for the four weeks ending June 14, reaching the highest level in a year amid dampening demand, real estate brokerage Redfin said in a June 18 report.
The $2,647 monthly payment is $100 lower than the all-time high hit in 2023.
“High costs are pricing many would-be homebuyers out of the market, and widespread economic uncertainty is causing others to think twice before making a major purchase,” Redfin said. “That has pushed pending home sales down 0.6 percent week over week, the fifth straight week of declines.”
Redfin attributed the rise in housing payments to higher property prices and elevated mortgage rates. The median sales price of a home in the United States has hit a record high of $403,889, up 2.3 percent year over year.
The weekly average rate of a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was at 6.47 percent for the week ending June 17, based on Freddie Mac data. In late February, the rate had hit a low of 5.98 percent.
In January 2025, the weekly rate hit its yearly high of 7.04 percent, after which it declined.
Declining buyer demand has led some sellers to back away, with the total number of homes for sale in the market falling marginally by 0.1 percent, according to Redfin.
Since there are now more sellers than buyers, competitive pricing is the key for Americans looking to sell their properties.
“Homes that just hit the market are typically the most popular, so pricing high and letting a home sit can stigmatize a listing,” Dawn Kane, a Redfin Premier agent in Maryland and Pennsylvania, said. “Don’t be the house priced at $1 million in a neighborhood where comparable homes are selling for $800,000-$900,000.”
In a June 10 report, real estate marketplace Zillow noted that higher mortgage rates would also cause housing affordability gains to diminish more quickly.
Any sizeable fall in mortgage rates may depend on the Federal Reserve lowering its benchmark interest rate.
The central bank has been hesitant in cutting rates, keeping them in a range of 3.5–3.75 percent for the fourth straight policy meeting this week.
Home Affordability
On the construction front, U.S. home builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes remained subdued in June as the housing market became strained amid high material costs, elevated mortgage rates, and affordability concerns, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) said in a June 15 statement.
NAHB Chairman Bill Owens said builder sentiment will remain soft until barriers to housing construction are eased and conditions improve. He added that the United States was short of roughly 1.2 million homes.
Last week, more than 1,100 builders and other industry experts visited Capitol Hill, calling on Congress to take action to improve affordability and help developers boost production.
Lawmakers are trying to pass a major housing package—the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act—that is expected to help boost the number of new homes in the country.
An agreement has been reached between the House and the Senate to finalize the bill, according to a June 17 statement from the office of Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II (D-Mo.), who welcomed the development.
The Senate is expected to pass the bill this week, leaving it for consideration at the House, the statement said.
“As American families struggle with our national housing affordability crisis, I am thrilled that the House and the Senate, Republicans and Democrats, have come together to reach a compromise that will enable the passage of historic and desperately needed housing reforms,” Cleaver said.
The act “modernizes federal housing programs like the Rural Housing Service and the HOME program; cuts through harmful red tape that has limited the development of innovative and manufactured housing; and incentivizes public-private partnerships that will lead to the construction of affordable housing in communities nationwide,” he added.
HOME is an investment program that provides grants to states and local governments to develop affordable housing.
