Housing Prices Slow in Hot Markets

By: David Leonhardt;Motoko Rich: REALTOR® Magazine Online
The housing market is showing several signs of peaking, including rising mortgage rates, tighter credit standards, and weakening in nearly every city that had been posting record sales and appreciation rates.

Double-digit price declines, lower appreciation rates, increasing inventories, and longer periods during which homes sit unsold are being seen across California, New York City, and the Boston suburbs, among other previously hot locales.

Real estate professionals attribute the boost in inventory to sellers setting ambitious asking prices or saturating the market in a scramble to beat an anticipated drop in prices.

Experts also point to the fact that homebuilder executives have unloaded close to $1 billion in company stock since the start of the year as evidence that the market is cooling down.