logo
More home sellers are pulling properties off the market rather than dropping prices

More home sellers are pulling properties off the market rather than dropping prices

The US housing market has been tilting in buyers' favor recently, but a rising trend among home sellers could stall that momentum.
A report from Realtor.com this month showed that rather than lowering the price of their homes or negotiating with buyers, many sellers are opting to simply remove their homes from the market.
The company's Monthly Housing Market Trends Report for June 2025 shows that sellers in the South and West have been facing downward pricing pressure, as both housing supply and median time on market have exceeded pre-pandemic levels. Throughout the East and North, however, prices have risen slightly.
Even as national markdowns have grown, though, Realtor.com reports that "national median list prices have held steady." This indicates that sellers are still driven by high expectations, even in a volatile and complicated economy.
"Delistings outpaced overall inventory gains—jumping 35% year to date and 47% year over year in May, compared with active listing growth of 28.4% and 31.5%, respectively," the report stated. "The spike signals that some sellers would rather wait than negotiate, suggesting recent buyer-friendly momentum could wane."
The message is clear for aspiring home buyers. Sellers are not interested in settling for a lower price, even if that means waiting longer to sell their home or backing out of the market entirely.
Jake Krimmel, a senior economist at Realtor.com highlighted that sellers are enjoying "record high levels of home equity," which grant them significant flexibility.
"This allows many sellers to withdraw their homes from the market if their asking price isn't met," he stated.
A lack of inventory is likely to lead to a shift in the housing market, as fewer homes for sale could push prices up again after a period that saw prices plateau or decline in key markets.
Other data shows that the number of first-time home buyers has steadily decreased, as economic conditions compel buyers—especially younger people—to see renting as a better financial decision.
If sellers continue to remove their homes from the market rather than lower prices, this trend is likely to continue. As housing experts told Business Insider recently, this poses negative consequences for the broader economy, as the housing market is an important engine for growth.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Feeling generous? You can Venmo the US government to help pay down the debt
Feeling generous? You can Venmo the US government to help pay down the debt

Business Insider

time25 minutes ago

  • Business Insider

Feeling generous? You can Venmo the US government to help pay down the debt

Helping the federal government pay down the country's soaring national debt is now as easy as reimbursing your friend for a round of drinks. Earlier this year, the US Treasury Department began accepting Venmo payments on where individuals can go online to contribute gifts to reduce the public debt. The department had already accepted payments via credit card, debit card, and bank account, and it has accepted charitable contributions for decades. According to Treasury data, the government has brought in roughly $120,000 a month in charitable contributions to pay down the debt since 2020. The Treasury received more than $2.7 million in gifts in 2024, and roughly $1 million in 2023. In the first five months of this year, the department brought in about $434,500. Reached by Business Insider, a spokesperson for the Treasury Department's Bureau of Fiscal Service did not immediately provide comment on the change. According to the Wayback Machine, Venmo was added as a payment method between February 22 and March 8 of this year. NPR reporter Jack Corbett first identified the change on Wednesday. The United States government is more than $36 trillion in debt, a number that's only expected to grow in the coming years. President Donald Trump's"Big Beautiful Bill," recently approved by Congress, is projected to add an additional $3.4 trillion to the debt over the next 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Where to invest $10,000 right now, according to 6 Wall Street heavyweights
Where to invest $10,000 right now, according to 6 Wall Street heavyweights

Business Insider

time25 minutes ago

  • Business Insider

Where to invest $10,000 right now, according to 6 Wall Street heavyweights

If you have $10,000 in cash waiting to be invested, you probably wish you had shoveled that money into the stock market in mid-April. But you're not the first, and won't be the last, investor who missed a good entry point into the market. Even with the market at all-time highs since hitting a bottom in April, that doesn't mean it's a bad time to jump in. Six Wall Street veterans told Business Insider that there are still plenty of pockets of opportunity. Some, for example, still like tech stocks as AI investment booms. Some of those same people also think it's smart to hedge and diversify right now amid the hype and lofty valuations. They recommend allocating some money to areas like value or international stocks. There's no one-size-fits-all approach to investing. Figuring out where to put your money depends on your individual circumstances, like your investment timeline and risk tolerance. For this hypothetical thought exercise, we asked our sources where they themselves would invest the money if they suddenly came into $10,000. Gabriela Santos, chief strategist for the Americas at JPMorgan Santos said that if she were gifted $10,000 right now, she would invest $7,000 in developed-market ex-US stocks and the remaining $3,000 in emerging-market stocks. "After 15 years of disappointment, it's really been all about international equities this year — huge outperformance, and something we see as just the beginning," Santos said. Santos is still bullish on US stocks, but said that international stocks are primed for relative outperformance given how high valuations are on US stocks. Historically, US stocks have traded at a 15% premium to international stocks, but now trade at a 35% premium. Plus, the value of the US dollar has fallen in recent months, and demand for ex-US assets has risen. "For someone, maybe like me, who's been too concentrated just on the US equity story, I think we've really seen a huge turning point to put some of that money to work overseas finally," she said. Two examples of exchange-traded funds that offer exposure to these areas include the Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF (VEA) and the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM). Year-to-date, the funds are up 19.7% and 18.6%, respectively. Barry Bannister, chief US equity strategist at Stifel Bannister identified three baskets of opportunities: value stocks, small-caps, and international stocks. For value stocks, he said to go with a large-cap value fund like the Vanguard Value ETF (VTV). For small-caps, the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) works well for its broad-based nature having exposure to the growth and value factors, Bannister said. And for international stocks, Bannister like the iShares MSCI ACWI ex US ETF (ACWX). These trades provide diversification from a tech-concentrated market, Bannister said. "Right now the market's obsessively focused on tech. But it's hard to run an economy on seven stocks," Bannister said, referring to the so-called Magnificent Seven stocks. Bannister said he recently put long-term bets on these trades himself. "I actually put a third, a third, a third, into small-cap, international, and value on some money that came in in May that I got, and we'll see how it works out for 10 years," he said. Hank Smith, CIO at Haverford Trust Normally, Smith would simply recommend a broad market index so that your money is well diversified. There's only one problem with that: most main indexes aren't all that diversified at the moment, with the so-called Magnificent Seven stocks making up almost a third of the S&P 500. So Smith has an easy fix: Put 50-60% of the money into an equal-weight S&P 500 fund, like the Invesco S&P 500® Equal Weight ETF (RSP), rather than the more widely followed market cap-weighted index. The equal-weight product gives you the same exposure to all 500 companies in the index instead of adjusting for exposure by company size. The equal-weight index has generally underperformed over the last five years, but it would hypothetically suffer less downside in a tech sell-off. The remaining 40-50% of the money can go into a more concentrated cap-weighted index like the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100, Smith said. That way, you don't miss out too much if the tech rally keeps ripping. "Now you get all your top tech holdings that are driving this market," he said. Smith's suggestions assume at least a five-year timeline. Michael Kantrowitz, chief investment officer at Piper Sandler Unlike Santos, Kantrowitz is still bullish on the American exceptionalism theme and would continue to bet on the US stock market for the next few years. Kantrowitz doesn't have a specific sector slant — he recommends investing in large-cap profitable leaders within their industries. "The earnings backdrop is going to be very bifurcated, and interest rates are going to remain elevated," Kantrowitz said of the next few years. With this backdrop, existing large-cap winners will continue to perform and have better earnings revisions than their peers. Kantrowitz would avoid passive sector indexes like a broad tech ETF, as those often don't accurately reflect the performance of the underlying basket of stocks due to weighting criteria. Instead, he recommends a more active stock-picking approach. The largest names that are screening well in Piper Sandler's models include Big Tech names — unsurprisingly, Nvidia, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta make the list — and companies like Oracle, Costco, Johnson & Johnson, and Home Depot. Tony DeSpirito, head of US fundamental equities at BlackRock DeSpirito, who manages several funds with a focus on combining value and quality, would split his investment between large-cap growth companies, dividend stocks, and value stocks. His guiding principle is building a well-diversified portfolio that can weather market volatility, given tariff headlines. The S&P 500 has undoubtedly become more expensive and growth-oriented thanks to the dominance of tech, but it's still a good idea to maintain exposure to Big Tech, according to DeSprito. "I'm not negative on the Mag Seven," DeSpirito said. "Many of them have really good growth and really good free cash flow. That's an incredibly powerful combination, and so they earn the multiples that they're trading at." For diversification, dividend stocks tend to be more resilient during downturns and provide a steady stream of income. DeSpirito is also on the hunt for unloved stocks that are trading cheaply. Healthcare companies are an especially compelling opportunity at the intersection of value and quality, according to DeSpirito. This area of the market has been largely ignored by investors, with the S&P 500 healthcare sector down 2% year-to-date. DeSpirito likes medical device companies, as these trade at mid-teens earnings ratios with good growth prospects. However, some large-cap pharmaceutical companies could be value traps, as their earnings are heavily dependent on patents, DeSpirito warned. Lara Castleton, US head of portfolio construction and strategy at Janus Henderson For investors with a longer timeline and a higher risk tolerance, Castleton suggested a three-pronged approach in equities. First, plug around 60% of your funds into large-cap stocks with a bias toward tech. Despite its comeback rally after a sharp dip earlier this year, tech is "still one of the areas and sectors that's going to dominate the markets for the next 10 years" given the innovation coming out of the sector, Castleton said. There are multiple ways to get exposure to the tech theme, but some general example funds might include the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) and the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ). Second, put about 20% of the fund into ex-US stocks. International stocks have gotten a big boost this year amid Trump's trade war and initial pullback from US support in Ukraine, and Castleton thinks the rally can continue. "You have to have some of that diversification because I truly believe going forward that you'll continue to see value coming out of Europe, some of these ex-US players that are now all of a sudden shifting their mentality to spending more on defense, to deregulating their companies," she said. Third, Castleton said to put the remaining 20% into mid-cap stocks, or companies with a market cap between $2 and 10 billion. This can provide further portfolio diversification, Castleton said, but the stocks should also benefit from reshoring as the deglobalization trend continues. "They're more domestically-oriented companies, and they also have a lot more room to grow than the large caps that have already kind of established their business models," she said.

'A long, slow bleed': Quant hedge funds are getting slammed and scrambling for answers
'A long, slow bleed': Quant hedge funds are getting slammed and scrambling for answers

Business Insider

time25 minutes ago

  • Business Insider

'A long, slow bleed': Quant hedge funds are getting slammed and scrambling for answers

Quant hedge fund managers are experiencing one of the most prolonged droughts in recent memory. The bigger concern: They don't know why. Systematic hedge funds have suffered a steady decline since June that managers are struggling to wrap their heads around. Quant executives, portfolio managers, and headhunters working in the space told Business Insider that the turmoil has hit most of the industry, generating concern and intrigue about the source of the pain. "It kinda crept up on everyone as there weren't many disastrous days, but it's been small loss after small loss," said one executive at a quant trading firm, who wasn't authorized to speak publicly. "No one seems to know why this is happening." Qube Research & Technologies, the $28 billion quant firm started by former Credit Suisse traders, has lost 5% in July in its flagship fund through last Friday, a person close to the manager said. The manager's larger Torus fund is down 7% in July, but both strategies are still up double-digits on the year. Point72's Cubist unit has experienced one of its worst stretches since the pandemic slammed global markets in March 2020, two people familiar with the firm said. Two Sigma's Spectrum fund is down roughly 2% this month through the end of last week, a person close to the manager said. At Man Group, the firm's AHL Dimension fund — a multi-asset systematic strategy — was down 2.5% in July through Tuesday, according to the London-based manager's website. Renaissance Technologies' largest external fund was down close to 6% in June, according to HSBC's Hedge Weekly report. These firms declined to comment or did not immediately respond to requests for comment. From the start of June through this Tuesday, equity quant managers lost 4.2%, according to a report from Goldman Sachs' prime services unit. The losses, driven by US equities, are the worst run of performance for systematic long-short strategies since a sharp drop at the end of 2023. Quant distress doesn't necessarily signal broader market trouble, but severe losses can spill over — especially if a large firm dumps positions and sparks contagion. The S&P 500 is up nearly 8% since June, and the VIX — a measure of volatility — is at its lowest point since February. Other prominent hedge fund strategies, including fundamental equity and multi-strategy, have steadily gained over the same period, the report said. Luckily for the quant space, it had been a strong year performance-wise until summer began, so the sector's annual returns are still, on average, outpacing their human rivals. A hallmark of statistical arbitrage, a classic quant trade that wields mathematical models to exploit short-term pricing inefficiencies across large baskets of stocks, istaking positions poised to pay off regardless of broader market swings. It has periodic slumps like any other trade, but they tend to be sharp and quick. Major drawdowns often last just a couple of days and stem from a large player liquidating a portfolio or reducing market exposure. Overcrowding can exacerbate losses, as it did during the so-called Quant Quake, in which systematic hedge funds such as Goldman Sachs' famed quantitative division suffered heavy, sudden losses in August 2007 while the rest of the market rallied. What's unusual this summer, industry sources say, is the accumulation of small losses over weeks. "Everyone says it's different this time — different because of duration," said a hedge fund consultant who works with large quant funds. "This has been a long, slow bleed across the complex." That pattern isn't consistent with a large liquidation and its aftershocks, though losses so far this week have been more intense, including a 0.6% decline on Tuesday, according to Goldman Sachs. The Goldman report said drivers included the sell-off of momentum strategies that bet rising stocks will keep rising; the rally in speculative, high volatility stocks; and "some unwinding of crowded trades." Intense losses could quickly pile up if sizable funds start cutting their exposure. "It's survival of the fittest, basically," said one quant trader at a multi-billion-dollar manager. "Who is going to have the stomach to ride this out and stick to their bets?"

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store