{"id":381781,"date":"2025-08-29T05:03:36","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T05:03:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/381781\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T05:03:36","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T05:03:36","slug":"new-home-inventory-is-at-its-highest-level-since-just-before-the-housing-market-collapse-that-led-to-the-great-recession-but-that-doesnt-mean-its-the-same-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/381781\/","title":{"rendered":"New home inventory is at its highest level since just before the housing market collapse that led to the Great Recession, but that doesn’t mean it’s the same market"},"content":{"rendered":"

The U.S. housing market\u2019s inventory is growing, putting pressure on prices and slowing new construction, according to fresh research from the Bank of America Institute<\/a>. As of June, existing-home supply reached 4.7 months, the highest level since July 2016. New-home supply surged even further to 9.8 months\u2014its highest point since 2022\u2014highlighting how quickly inventory is building across the housing market.<\/p>\n

The influx of available homes reflects sluggish demand, with builders citing weak buyer urgency, affordability challenges, and lingering job instability. The Institute noted new-home inventory is now at its highest level since 2007, the year before the housing market collapse that led to the Great Financial Crisis.<\/p>\n

ResiClub<\/a> co-founder Lance Lambert<\/a> told Fortune that the rising inventory tells us that \u201chomebuyers are gaining leverage\u201d as slack in the housing market is increasing. \u201cThe Pandemic Housing Boom saw too much housing demand all at once, home prices overheated too fast in many markets, and underlying fundamentals got too stretched.\u201d <\/p>\n

Lambert characterized the last few years as a \u201crecalibration period\u201d where the housing market is smoothing out that excess. Mounting inventory sucks out appreciation in more markets\u2014and even causes outright corrections in some markets\u2019 home prices. He said he expects the underlying fundamentals to slowly improve as that happens and incomes keep rising. \u201cIt takes time.\u201d This period is different from 2007, he said, because that window saw a far greater weakening of the housing market and upswing in resale inventory, along with unsold, completed newbuild homes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

BofA Research<\/p>\n

One striking shift: The median price of a new home has actually fallen below that of an existing home\u2014a reversal of the usual market dynamic. BofA said this pricing inversion underscores how builders are being forced to discount amid rising supply and softer demand. \u201cBuilders are starting to pull back on new home starts in many markets,\u201d Bank of America<\/a> wrote. While the slowdown is broad-based, conditions vary regionally, with some areas such as the Midwest proving more resilient than others.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the Pandemic Housing Boom fizzled out in 2022, and the affordability squeeze was fully felt,\u201d Lambert told Fortune, \u201cthe national power dynamic has slowly been shifting from sellers to buyers as homes have a harder time selling and active inventory for sale builds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Lambert noted the\u00a0inventory picture varies significantly across the country. For instance, it remains most limited across notable sections of the Midwest and the Northeast, although still growing, he said. On the other hand, active inventory has neared or surpassed pre-pandemic 2019 levels in many parts of the Sun Belt and Mountain West, and he said that is where homebuyers have gained the most leverage.<\/p>\n

The trend comes as the Federal Reserve has begun trimming interest rates in an effort to support both broader economic growth and housing affordability. Whether those cuts will be enough to reignite demand remains an open question.<\/p>\n

For now, the data signals a market in transition: high inventory, moderating prices, and builders caught between a cautious consumer and the need to manage supply.<\/p>\n

For this story,\u00a0Fortune\u00a0used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Introducing the 2025 Fortune Global 500<\/strong>, the definitive ranking of the biggest companies in the world. Explore this year’s list.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The U.S. housing market\u2019s inventory is growing, putting pressure on prices and slowing new construction, according to fresh…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381782,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3091],"tags":[51,87914,6333,132714,2441,8671,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-381781","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-markets","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-home-prices","10":"tag-housing","11":"tag-inventory","12":"tag-markets","13":"tag-mortgage-rates","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115110307669187004","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}