Housing Hits the Wall: $698 Billion in Listings, but No One’s Buying
The Price is Up — But So Is Reality
The total value of U.S. homes on the market just hit a record $698 billion, a stunning 20.3% increase from last year. But don’t let the headlines fool you. This isn’t a sign of prosperity — it’s a symptom of desperation and dislocation.
Inventory is flooding the market. Demand is withering. And those sky-high listing prices? They’re fictional — set by homeowners who still think it’s 2021.
As Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather bluntly told FOX Business, the math no longer adds up. “Buyers can't afford these high prices,” she said. With mortgage rates climbing, insurance premiums ballooning, and property taxes eating into budgets, Americans are checking out of the housing market — or never entering it in the first place.
Locked-In and Tapped Out
Here’s the kicker: most homeowners aren’t even motivated to sell. As of February, 82.8% of mortgage holders were locked into interest rates below 6%, while the going rate on a 30-year fixed loan now hovers near 6.85%. That means selling today would mean trading a cheap loan for a financial noose.
Fairweather notes that many would-be sellers are simply listing out of necessity — relocations, divorces, life changes — and even then, they’re clinging to wishful prices. But the market isn’t playing along.
Sellers Must Wake Up or Sit Out
“Sellers can no longer rely on scarcity to do the heavy lifting,” says Noel Roberts, founder of Pending, a firm specializing in off-market deals. That scarcity premium? Gone. Inventory has risen 16.7% year over year, and homes are sitting on the market longer, with many rotting unsold for over two months.
What worked during the stimulus-fueled, low-rate frenzy of 2020–2022 is now a liability. Sellers who fail to adapt — through pricing, staging, and targeting — will sit on dead listings while inflation eats away at the real value of their supposed equity.
Buyers Gain Leverage — But Stay Cautious
For buyers, this may be the first window in years where they hold some negotiating power. No more frantic bidding wars. No more waiving inspections. “You’re evaluating inventory with leverage,” Roberts notes. But don’t mistake this for a return to normal. We’re still operating in a distorted, Fed-manipulated financial landscape.
The smart buyers are disciplined, not desperate. They know value when they see it, and they’re willing to wait out the stubborn, overpriced junk clogging the market.
The Illusion of Wealth in a Cracking Foundation
A $698 billion listing market means nothing if the buyers have vanished and sellers refuse to lower expectations. We’re staring down the barrel of a correction — not because of a collapse, but because of reality finally catching up with illusion.
And here’s the hard truth: even if prices do drop, you’re not protected. Your retirement fund, your savings account, your equity — they’re all tied to a system that assumes tomorrow will look like yesterday. But what if it doesn’t?
Don’t Bet Your Nest Egg on a Market This Fragile
It’s time to exit the housing hype and prepare for the systemic risks that no mainstream economist wants to admit. Download Bill Brocius’ free ebook now:
👉 7 Steps to Protect Your Account from Bank Failure
Then grab his book, End of Banking As You Know It, and subscribe to his Inner Circle newsletter for just $19.95/month — because when the real estate dominoes fall, it won’t just be sellers who get hurt. It’ll be anyone still stuck in the system.
Protect your capital. Hedge your bets. And don’t wait for permission to act.
