Although for almost three years housing sales have registered unprecedented falls in the country for various causes, millions of people continue outside access to the market by not being able to qualify for a loan or perceive that they cannot even cover the payments of a mortgage.
The government of Joe Biden, analysts aligned to the left and the great media of the same trend denied the existence of a real estate crisis together with other crises: immigration, banking, commercial, inflationary deficit, leadership in the White House and failed policies nationally and internationally.
All of the above had a direct and indirect impact on the real estate market and the negative consequences did not diminish in 2024.
Similar panorama
The 2025 has begun on the same footprints, because the crisis has been created by multiple socio -economic factors, including the massive immigration allowed by the Democrats with their “open doors” policy, an affirmation confirmed by a study of the Federal Reserve and presented by several Republican congressmen in Washington.
When applying measures to reverse these types of trends in the real estate market, the same factors with which the crisis was promoted, so the positive effect may take several years.
The previous administration did nothing in that sense up to three months before the presidential elections, when the Federal Reserve-under the pressure of the left and without a support of reality-reduced in three moments in a row the referential rate to take it to 4.25%-4.50%
When Jerome Powell, the president of the Federal Reserve, Central Bank or Fed, admitted the inflation data in the fall given by the Biden Government Department, consumers continued to face the same prices in almost all products as during the inflationary peak in June 2022. In some lines, they continued to increase: food, insurance, vehicle prices in sale, air tickets, air tickets, household products and services among others.
In January of this year, sales of use properties fell once again 5% compared to December, while new construction collapsed 10.5%. But this occurs since the end of 2022, with some months of exception; However, the previous government and neoliberal media silenced the crisis before the panic of the one between 2006 and 2009
The recoil of the first month of the year occurred after the resale of homes fell in 2024 to its lowest level in three decades, another dire record of the Biden-Harris administration.
683,000 new homes were sold, while the one used were 4.06 million, the lowest level since 1995, according to the National Realtory Association (Nar).
Inaccessible market for millions
The market continues with very high prices and high rates, in addition to inflation, which according to data from the Department of Labor and the Federal Reserve is in 3% in the analysis of the IPC indicator (consumer price index).
Independent and conservative analysts consider that this inflation figure is much higher and the prices paid by consumers in almost all products, except gasoline that is not cheap, follow the clouds.
For four years this situation has kept dozens of millions of Americans in suffocation.
The consumption of households in the United States also fell in January more than what markets expected, especially because of a decrease in spending in the car sector.
For almost two years, consumption in the United States, which represents almost 70% of the US economy, is in a tendency to decrease and stagnation
Non -recently built housing sales reached 4.08 million, according to the National Association of Real Estate Agents (NAR). The figure confirms the tendency to decrease the real estate sector, with a national properties deficit of more than 4.5 million properties.
Although the inventory has increased with respect to 2022 and 2023, the sales flow does not leave the hole in which it is located, and prices do not fall at the same rate despite the decrease in some regions of the country.
Between May and June 2024, the inventory in the US rose considerably, fell in December and January of this year began to climb again with 1.18 million homes for sale
Mortgage rates came to exceed 8%, the worst since 2008.
In the last months of 2024 they dropped to an average of 6.35% before staying for more than a year and a half before 7%. However, in January the mortgage rate exceeded that value and until February 25 it was 6.88, according to data from the Freddie Mac mortgage buyer.
“The mortgage rates have remained high for several months despite the three cuts of the short -term interest rates by the Federal Reserve,” said the chief economist of the Nar, Lawrence Yun, in a statement.
“When combined with high prices, housing affordability remains a great challenge,” he added. And this adds to the financial wear of consumers and potential buyers. Millions of them have been disqualified in the current market due to the impossibility of being approved for a loan.
The average house sales price grew 4.7% to $ 407,500, the association added.
Construction costs and types of housing
Inflation also triggered repairs and construction costs, while in the last four years housing prices increased by 30%.
The fall in demand in the purchase of homes, added to the rise in the price in the materials, continues to impact the construction sector in 2025.
In the case of new homes, the highest values are associated with the above conditions and the manufacturing cost.
In mid -2024, the cost to finish an average three -bedroom house and two bathrooms with about 2,000 and 2,100 square feet in the state of Florida was between $ 300,000 and 320,000, 80% more compared to the second quarter. And between November and December 2023, he climbed 56.6%.
If the property reached 2,500 square feet with four bedrooms and three bathrooms, then the expense was fired between $ 360,000 and 372,000
The expenses include the preparation of the land, permits and connection to basic public services.
These indices vary in each state and depending on the materials used. Florida has increased in the last two decades the rigor in materials and construction standards in many counties due to natural catastrophes, especially hurricanes, some tornadoes and tropical storms.
In Florida, following the collapse of the Champlain Towers residential complex in Surfside, the State introduced changes and new regulations for the security certification in buildings with 30 years or more of antiquity.
This has caused that a large number of owners cannot pay surcharges for repairs, so they have been forced to put their apartments for sale under the risk of being confiscated by banks or lenders (Foreclosure).
This situation has contributed to Inventory increase; However, skepticism and caution among buyers is more than evident.
Some state and federal funds for the millionaire investments required to obtain certification, or long -term loans already under interest, have partially relieved the associations or owners of buildings, but They have not been enough.
In the last three decades in southern Florida, as in other states of the country, the construction companies have put aside the manufacture of single-family houses to triple their income through communities of Townhouse, condominiums or monumental buildings of modern apartments, as is the case of the Miami coast and other areas in the Miami, Broward and Palm Beach County.
The projects have allowed sales in southern Florida, in addition to the already known attraction of climate, development and taxes, have resisted the national collapse of real estate sales.
A new surcharge adds to the dreaded Hoa
However, this has triggered another serious problem for those who acquire such a home: the dreaded Home Owners Association (HOA) or (monthly payments for association and maintenance). This position, which is increasingly high, adds to the cost of the mortgage, the interests of the loan and annual taxes.
The HOA can vary per year, almost always up. It is one of the reasons why owners live under a guillotine. If not paying, the person faces the risk of losing property, which is equivalent to losing everything he has paid so far.
When selling, the excessive costs of HOA have become a great obstacle for both the seller and the buyer.
The payment of association in modern or luxury apartments can exceed 1,400 and 2,000 dollars per month; That is, to the high prices and the high interest, this other wallet rodor is added that is increasing more.
But there is more. It turns out that another position is now added to the HOA in the new communities of recent construction imposed by the construction companies to the buyers, and that many Realtors do not explain to the buyer.
This is the position called.
This new rate of rate is paid as part of property taxes and can last several years, which means that it is not fixed as HOA. However, it is another property price increase.
The CDD is created in Florida because the developer does not absorb part of the initial cost for the construction of the community. And supposedly covers the water supply, sewerage, electrical infrastructure and the comforts for that community.
The new standards implemented by the National Association of Realtors, which entered into force in July 2024, with the promise to lower prices, have not achieved anything significant.
Among the modifications that entered into force and that would allegedly contribute to lower prices are: prohibition that the commission of real estate agents includes multiple listed services. Critics say that doing that in the past led real estate corridors to guide their clients towards properties with which they could gain higher dividends.
Now the new rules demand that the agents subscribe to multiple listing services, many of which are owned by Nar subsidiaries. It also forces them to sign agreements in writing with their buyers.
The changes in the commissions structure were expected to reduce the commissions between 25% and 50%, according to TD Cowan, a financial services investigation firm. But in the end, everything remains the same and both agents and vendors have agreed to mask commissions with cash or within the sale value of the property.
It also continues the tendency that many owners retain their properties acquired in previous decades at low prices and low interest or refinanced, which allows them to compensate for high costs of life under historical inflation created by the Biden-Harris government, which already exceeds four years of great wear for US consumers.
What prices could relieve is the output for sale due to mortgage execution of tens of thousands of homes acquired between 2021 and 2023 above 600,000 and $ 800,000 in the regular market (not luxury), whose buyers can no longer pay for various reasons.
A study in 2023 revealed that more than 85% of those buyers were regretting to obtain a property at such high and inflated prices.
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