LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Sales of homes are dropping across the country and economists now believe we are heading into a housing recession because builders just aren't building!
Darrell Araujo rang another doorbell with hopes of finding the home of his dreams, but many homes have a price tag of more than $600,000 and buyers say it’s way too expensive.
"Monthly payment is $2,000 to $3,000, it is hard because right there I have to look for a second or third job to actually maintain that mortgage," Araujo said.
He says he has been home shopping for about a year. He says higher prices were an issue, now he's struggling with a spike in interest rates and worries a recession is upon us.
"I don't know if it is going to be tomorrow, or the next day, or 30 days from now, so you don't know for sure if it's going to go sky high or drop-down," Araujo said.
According to the National Association of Realtors, home sales fell nearly 6% in July compared with June. Even more concerning sales have dropped 20% from this same time a year ago. Dawn Houlf, Managing Broker with Exit Realty Number 1, says just in three months things have changed drastically. She says it's now a buyer's market and sellers are getting the short end of the stick.
"There is going to be that negotiation between buyer and seller whereas 3, 4, 5, months ago it was all sellers and there were no negotiations, I have never seen it where people are waving appraisal contingencies, waiving appraisals, inspections, just to get into a house," Houlf said.
Rebecca & Luis Rodriguez have been trying to sell their home since May. While they are in no rush to sell. They think it's going to be a lot harder than it would have been at the beginning of the year.
"The seller that needs to sell a home is having a tough time and they have to decide can we afford to drop our price, is its necessity to drop our price because of an employment situation or economic situation," said Rodriguez.
Economic analysts say although mortgage rates and home prices eased slightly in July don't expect a rebound in the market anytime this year.
