A glimmer of hope for the housing market

Support comes from Hallenen Law, representing whistleblowers who have experienced retaliation for reporting illegal workplace conduct. Hallenen Law, results that make a difference. Learn more at halunenlaw.com. This podcast is supported by Odoo. Some say Odoo business management software is like fertilizer for businesses because the simple efficient software promotes growth. Others say Odoo is like a magic beanstalk because it scales with you and is magically affordable. And some describe Odoo's programs for manufacturing, accounting, and more as building blocks for creating a custom software suite. So Odoo is fertilizer, magic beanstalk building blocks for business. Odoo, exactly what businesses need. Sign up at odoo.com. That's odoo.com. On this last Monday of twenty twenty five, we'll begin the annual tradition of looking back and looking ahead. What's in store for the economy in 2026? United States. Kairi's Doll. It's Monday, December 29. Good to have you with us. Stagnant, slow, subdued. These are words you might use to describe the housing market in 2025. But we got some news today that might have the industry ending the year on a high note. The market is, well, I wouldn't call it heating up, but maybe picking up. Pending home sales were up by more than 3% in November after rising nearly two and a half percent the month before, according to the National Association of Realtors. Existing home sales have also been trending higher. All in all, things are looking brighter in the housing market with a bit more inventory for sale and mortgage rates that have trended lower over the year. Marketplaces Mitchell Hartman reports on whether the good news is likely to continue. For a change, the housing news is not all gloom and doom, says Guy Sikala at Inside Mortgage Finance. A slight surge in pending home sales. It is a promising sign. The best increase on a seasonal basis since 2023. Especially because the market since then Look like a housing market stuck in the mud. Homes and mortgages haven't seemed affordable for most would be home buyers for a while, says Edward Pinto at the American Enterprise Institute. He points out since 2019 House prices went up something like 30 or 40%, and wage growth was something like 11%. And so we ended up with housing becoming much less affordable. But by the end of this year House price appreciation adjusting for consumer prices actually down a half a percent to 1%. Plus, he expects more homes to come onto the market, putting the brakes on future home price increases. There's another central figure in the affordability equation, mortgage rates. The thirty year fixed rate peaked near eight percent two years ago. Since mid October, it's been hovering around 6.2%, says Guy Sikala at Inside Mortgage Finance. Mortgage rates are moving in the right direction, even if a lot slower than any of us anticipated. Sokala is expecting two to three more interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve in 2026, which he thinks will …