Market Update

YEAR-OVER-YEAR comparisons are the benchmark to establish market trends because they consider the seasonal nature of each housing market. However, after coming out of the supercharged housing markets of mid2020 through early 2022 (until the Fed pivoted to push rates higher), annual comparisons are problematic because that housing market era was a rocket ship. The Federal Reserve used record-low interest rates to reverse recessionary conditions caused by the pandemic lockdown, creating a pandemic-era housing boom with record sales volume. As a result, annual comparisons must be used cautiously in the near future, until the current market is further from the pandemic housing boom.

Newly signed contracts, as defined in our four regional reports, represent those signed in the reporting month rather than a cumulative total. A random selection of three submarkets from each regional Elliman Report was analyzed using month-over-month comparisons since last October. This time frame correlates with the rough peak of mortgage