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Home price growth is slowing according to the latest Case-Shiller Home Price Index with rates on a downward trajectory. Can prices continue to come down even as more buyers enter into the housing market? We will see. But to discuss this further, joining me now is Jessica Lautz who is the deputy chief economist and vice president of research at the National Association of Realtors. Great to have you back on the program here with us Jessica. So, just give us your read in, as we're getting more of the data on where home prices are remaining elevated, and what is anticipated as we start to see mortgage rates continue to trickle lower.

Yeah. So, I think it's a really interesting housing market right now because as we look regionally, we know that the West is always more expensive, but we're still seeing migration flow into mountain states into the sunbelt, and that's pushing up home prices in those areas of the country. We also know that it's really a struggle for first-time home buyers based on affordability to come into the market. So it's really expensive homes where we're seeing strong growth.

And so with this in mind, I'm just taking a look at the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller US National Home Price Index as we were just discussing a moment ago with our reporter Danny Romero. And as we're taking a look at this 5% annual gain in July, that that is down from 5.5% in the previous month here. But where most notably are are we seeing some improvement looking for any type of some positivity coming from this despite some of the all-time highs that we had seen in continuity?

Yeah, I mean, I think if we're going to talk about improvement, we need to be talking about the ability for home buyers to to actually purchase, and that's really coming from the mortgage market today versus home prices, because if we look at home prices they're still ticking up, but when we think about the qualifying income for someone to purchase a home, it's $108,000 nationwide. So looking at improvement, really we're looking to the mortgage market at this point.

And so with that in mind, what is your anticipation for what it will take on the mortgage side for buyers to really flock back into the the market and start to throw some bids in because that could be another pressure that keeps prices elevated if you do see so many people come in off the sidelines, and and bidding wars really start to become a a a figment of reality once again.

Absolutely, I mean, if we look over the summer months, we saw that multiple bids had ticked down where at 2.4 offers for every home listed right now. But at a really tough peak, when we knew that interest rates were quite low in the 2 and 3% range, we saw 5.5 offers. So I think realistically we're never going to see that again, but I do think that as rates continue to tick down perhaps into high fives, low sixes, where they are today, we'll start seeing more interest in the housing market, but that has to come from first-time home buyers, because I don't think we're going to get current home owners unless there's a motivating factor to move, really off the sidelines anytime soon.

What are you seeing in terms of the number of homes that are actually going for for asking price and and above?

So right now, we're seeing 20% of homes in the last month based on NAR's data moved above the asking price. That's lower than what it has been in recent months, but still seeing 1/5 of homes moving more than the asking price either means that it's priced really competitively or we know that there is still strong demand. And I think what we're seeing is strong demand in the housing market as rates tick down, we could see those multiple offers come back.

With that in mind, do do you think that some of the buyers trying to price into their own figures, some of the new NAR rules and and and what is the early kind of reception as that's beginning to be implemented?

Well, I have to say talking to realtors, anecdotal evidence, they're embracing the change. They're ready for the change. Uh but as far as home sales data go, we're not going to see it yet. Because when we look at August data, what we're actually looking at is the uh someone who signed a contract a couple months ago. So we're going to have to wait perhaps until the winter months until we really see late fall, winter months until we really see that looking like the new changes there.

Interesting, really interesting here. And then just lastly while we have you. One of the other more interesting things that's starting to play out a little bit more is the number of co-buyers that are entering into the market together, pooling assets, pooling their resources and perhaps trying to make a more compelling pitch as well as to why they should be able to take over a property. What are you tracking on that front?

Yeah, I love this topic, and I think part of it has to do with the drop in marriage rates in this country. We know only half of Americans are married, so there's a lot more singles, but homes are expensive. And so pooling incomes thinking about saving together, earning equity together makes a lot of sense, especially when housing in this country is usually three bedrooms, two baths. So do you actually need that whole house by yourselves as a single buyer? Probably not. So a roommate makes a lot of sense.

All right, Jessica Lautz who is the National Association of Realtors, Deputy Chief Economist and Vice President of Research. Jessica, always a pleasure to grab some time with you. Thank you.

Thank you.