Hot Take on Nation's Housing

The housing market has lately been characterized as cooling off and slowing down, but real estate columnist Kenneth Harney argues that market watchers should take another look.

Citing the recent drop in rates easing mortgage loan financing, growing supply of for-sale homes in some markets, slower home price appreciation, and the rise of list price discounts, Harner writes for The Washington Post that the market's fundamentals are stronger than they seem. Though, he adds, "of course, the ongoing, bilious political situation in Washington could create some as-yet-unseen crisis, introducing 'a whole different level of uncertainty.' But at the moment, there are green shoots in sight — signs of better balanced market conditions ahead." As well, the current affordability crisis is still impacting many Americans from having affordable shelter.

If you’ve been distracted by the federal shutdown, political dysfunction, stock-market volatility and reports of rising mortgage rates, it wouldn’t be surprising if you concluded: No way is this a good time to even think about buying a house or putting one on the market. Things are too crazy. Nobody’s paying attention to real estate anyway.

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