# U.S. housing market hits four years of historic low turnover

> Existing-home sales have stalled at their lowest levels in decades as mortgage rates and switching costs keep homeowners locked in place.
- Title: U.S. housing market hits four years of historic low turnover
- Summary: Existing-home sales have stalled at their lowest levels in decades as mortgage rates and switching costs keep homeowners locked in place. U.S. existing-home…
- Keywords: housing market, existing-home sales, resale turnover, mortgage rates, united states, housing, market, hits, four, years, historic, low
- Source: Fastcompany — https://fastcompany.com/91627851/housing-market-officially-hits-4-years-of-historically-low-resale-turnover
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: housing market, existing-home sales, resale turnover, mortgage rates, united states
## Four years of stalled sales
U.S. existing-home sales have remained stuck at historically low levels since the pandemic-era housing demand surge ended and mortgage rates spiked.
## The headline hides the reality
Monthly reports show existing-home sales rising or falling based on seasonally adjusted figures, but unadjusted data reveals sales have barely moved in four years.
## September marks the milestone
This September reading officially marks four straight years of historically low resale turnover, according to the National Association of Realtors data.
## The Ds of Housing floor
Since mid-twenty twenty-two, U.S. resale transactions have bounced along the Ds of Housing transaction floor: sales driven by necessity like death, divorce, disability.

> Ds of Housing
## Switching costs out of whack
Mortgage rates spiked and switching costs got out of whack after the pandemic surge ended, locking homeowners in place and suppressing resale activity.
## Resilient and softer markets alike
Historically low sales have persisted across both resilient housing markets in the Northeast and Midwest and softer Sun Belt markets experiencing cyclical cooling.
## The Resale Turnover Index
ResiClub's Resale Turnover Index adjusts for population change using owner-occupied households to allow apples-to-apples comparison across decades of data.
## Bottom twenty-fifth percentile
The U.S. is now at four straight years in the bottom twenty-fifth percentile for resale turnover, what ResiClub calls historically low.
## New homes tell a different story
U.S. new-home sales are down from pandemic peaks but still roughly on par with pre-pandemic levels in twenty eighteen to twenty nineteen.
## Builders cut prices to survive
To maintain new-home sales, homebuilders especially in Sun Belt markets like Florida and Texas have made deeper cuts to net effective home prices.
## Mortgage buydowns and cash back
Builders have used mortgage rate buydowns, cash back at closing, and outright price reductions to prevent steeper pullbacks in new-home sales.
## Margins take the hit
These price-cutting strategies have come at the expense of homebuilder margins as they sacrifice profitability to keep sales from collapsing.
## Sellers must adjust
In local markets where active inventory has spiked and existing-home sales press below the Ds of Housing floor, sellers will have to adjust to sell.
## Softness spreading
Heading into the seasonally soft window, pockets of the Pacific Northwest, Texas, Florida, and Colorado are already seeing sellers forced to make adjustments.
## Key takeaway

U.S. existing-home sales have remained at historically low levels for four straight years, with September twenty twenty-six marking the fourth consecutive year in the bottom twenty-fifth percentile for resale turnover.