What’s happening in the housing market? The answer to that question hasn’t changed much in the past several months.
Read MoreReal estate industry professionals describe a balanced market as the ideal, with buyers and sellers evenly matched, neither having a strong advantage over the other and both willing to compromise to produce a sale. The current market reflects a balance of sorts, but not a healthy one.
When the Federal Reserve launched its war against inflation last year, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell made it clear that he was willing to accept slower growth and possibly a recession in order to squeeze inflationary pressures out of the economy. Most economists agreed that a recession would be the inevitable result of the Fed’s successive interest rate hikes.
Baseball season hasn’t begun yet, but the Federal Reserve is dealing with a sweeping curve ball delivered by the sudden failures of three banks. The first – Silvergate – a California-based lender specializing in the crypto market – didn’t attract much notice.
As the Federal Reserve’s effort to combat inflation has pushed interest rates skyward, housing market signals have turned negative, leading many industry analysts to ask if a housing recession coming and some to suggest that it has already arrived.