The housing market's long winter faces a slow thaw and many unknowns
There are some signs of improvement heading into the spring buying season, but President Donald Trump’s economic plans complicate the outlook.
A slew of new data shows that the housing market remains largely frozen at the start of the year, posing steep challenges to President Donald Trump’s promise to thaw it.
Sales of existing homes fell 4.9% from December to January, the National Association of Realtors reported Friday, a steeper drop than expected. Though the rate improved 2% last month on an annual basis, the sales pace continues to hover around 15-year lows.
The situation isn’t much rosier for new builds: Construction permits declined 1.7% in January from 12 months earlier, while housing starts were mostly flat, federal data showed Wednesday. And homebuilders’ confidence slipped to a five-month low this month, the National Association of Home Builders’ latest survey found.
It’s been a very unusual start to 2025. A lot of buyers and sellers were thinking this was going to be their year.
Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist, Bright MLS
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