With this week’s half-percent interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve, agents are hoping that sellers will finally come off the fence and unleash some inventory to get the market moving.
Whether it’s refining your business model, mastering new technologies or discovering strategies to take advantage of the next market wave, Inman Connect New York will prepare you to take bold steps forward. The next chapter is about to begin. Be part of it. Join us and thousands of real estate leaders January 22-24, 2025.
Each week, Inman’s Christy Murdock on The Download delves deeper into the week’s best-read stories to give you what you need to meet Monday head-on. This week: Is this week’s half-percent rate cut from the Federal Reserve the boost we’ve been waiting for to get sellers in the game?
Even in the best of times, real estate agents face uncertainty on all sides, from market conditions, economic factors and good human nature. However, in the past two years, the challenges have piled on top of each other.
Of these challenges, perhaps the most impactful for both buyers and sellers is the rise in interest rates as part of the Federal Reserve’s efforts to combat runaway inflation.
TAKE THE INMAN INTEL INDEX SURVEY BEFORE SEPTEMBER
For too long, buyers and sellers have been in a holding pattern while agents and brokers tread water in the face of a down market and regulatory uncertainty. For sellers, high interest rates made it virtually impossible to move higher, forcing them to trade at pandemic low interest rates. For buyers, high interest rates were just one more financial challenge on top of tight inventories and skyrocketing home prices.
EXTRA: Existing home sales continue to decline as buyers bide their time:
Can this week’s long-awaited Federal Reserve rate put pressure on the market and get consumers on both sides of the table ready to take action?
After raising interest rates to their highest level in more than two decades to combat inflation, the Federal Reserve cut the Fed funds rate by half a percentage point on Wednesday and indicated it would cut rates by two percentage points by the end of 2025. can decrease.
The dot plot, which charts future rate cuts, shows that the Fed expects to cut rates by another half a percentage point by the end of this year, to between 4.25 and 4.50 percent, with possibly another full percentage of interest rate cuts. cover next year.
In announcing the cut, Fed policymakers said they are more confident that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2 percent — and that the “economic outlook is uncertain.”
EXTRA: That big interest rate cut by the Fed was not a panacea for the housing market: Fitch
Knowing your numbers and how to act based on the market-related cues they provide can make the difference between thriving and floundering in your real estate business. Fortunately, we have economic, operational and motivational experts available this week to ensure you take the right steps in the coming weeks and months.
Figures you need to know with Windermere economist Jeff Tucker
How to motivate, inspire and train your team in these times of crisis disruption
Great team leaders focus on business development and agent development, and the results can be amazing, coach Verl Werkman writes.
