Jan. 5, 2026
Some Good News in Housing as We Head Into 2026
There is some good news in the world of housing as we begin 2026. It appears that in the last quarter of 2025, the number of buyers going under contract on home purchases increased. As I have mentioned previously, for home sales to rise, two things need to happen: home prices need to come down, and mortgage interest rates also need to decline. When both occur, housing becomes more affordable and home sales begin to increase. This is exactly what took place during the latter portion of 2025.
Even though home prices need to decline much further and mortgage rates need to drop more before we see a significant improvement in the housing market, this was an important start. The 2026 housing market remains uncertain. Most economists are calling for a much-improved housing market in 2026, but I remain cautiously optimistic. The Federal Reserve has stated that we may not see any further rate reductions in the near future, and home prices are only slowly trending downward.
