Home Prices Are Starting To Crash – Is That Really Good News Or Really Bad News?

Home prices are falling all over the nation. Should we be cheering or should we be concerned? In this article, I am going to discuss two distinct scenarios. In one scenario, lower housing prices could be a really good thing for our economy. But if another scenario plays out, we could potentially be looking at a repeat of the chaotic days of 2008 and 2009.

Zero Hedge is reporting that home prices in the 20 biggest cities in the United States declined for a 4th consecutive month in June…

Home prices in America’s 20 largest cities fell for the 4th straight month in June (the latest data available from S&P CoreLogic’s Case-Shiller data released this morning).

The 0.25% MoM drop was larger than expected and dragged the YoY price growth down to +2.15% – the weakest since July 2023…

Four months in a row is definitely a trend.

And other data points are confirming that a significant turning point has arrived.

According to Zillow, 27.4 percent of all home listings had their prices slashed during the month of July…

Home prices are falling in half of the nation’s largest markets, a new report reveals —sparking fears that a housing crash is looming.

Sellers are slashing prices at record rates to to lure hesitant buyers put off by soaring mortgage rates and economic uncertainty.

In July alone, 27.4 percent of listings had a price cut — the highest rate ever recorded in Zillow’s monthly data going back to 2018.

When more than a quarter of all listings have their prices cut in just one month, that is a tsunami.

If this continues, things are going to get pretty crazy.

Personally, I think that it is quite noteworthy that prices are being cut the fastestin areas that were “booming” not too long ago…

Florida and Texas, in particular, are home to former boomtowns where prices have fallen at the quickest rate over the past year.

Tampa prices are down 6.2 percent, Austin 6 percent, Miami 4.6 percent, Orlando 4.3 percent and Dallas 3.9 percent, according to Zillow.

‘Metros where price corrections are steepest are among those with the largest increase in inventory compared to before the pandemic,’ said Kara Ng, senior economist at Zillow.

Needless to say, we have seen this happen before.

And it didn’t end well.

According to the National Association of Home Builders, prices on new homes are being cut as well…

A closely watched gauge of builder sentiment tracked by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) fell in August to its lowest level in more than two-and-a-half years. More than a third of builders reported cutting prices by an average of 5 percent, while two-thirds offered incentives such as help with closing costs to attract wary buyers.

Many Americans that have been frozen out of the market are very excited that prices are starting to come down.

Homes have become so unaffordable in recent years, and one recent survey discovered that the average American is spending 42 percent of his or her annual income on housing costs…

Four in ten American parents say they don’t believe, or aren’t sure, their children will be able to afford to live in the same neighborhood where they grew up, according to a sobering new poll. In fact, the survey suggests that more than half of all Americans think they’re already paying too much for housing, with the average person reporting that 42% of their annual income goes toward housing costs.

The study of 1,000 Americans, conducted by Talker Research and commissioned by construction finance platform Built, highlights how concerns about housing affordability have become widespread. What was once viewed as a problem mainly affecting the poorest households is now seen as an issue facing a much broader slice of the population.

42 percent is a level that was never going to be sustainable.

It was inevitable that home prices would start to come down, and now it is happening.

If home prices decline in an orderly fashion, eventually more Americans will be able to purchase homes and that will be a great thing for the entire industry.

Let us hope that is how things play out.

But there is also another possible scenario.

If home prices in the United States crash hard, all of a sudden millions of Americans could find themselves underwater on their mortgages.

In such a scenario, large numbers of those homeowners could simply choose to walk away from their mortgages just like we witnessed in 2008 and 2009, and that would cause chaos for financial institutions all over the nation.

In addition, when prices are falling very rapidly it can cause hesitancy among potential buyers.

After all, who wants to buy a home when it might be worth $20,000 less next month?

And it appears that we are already starting to see some early warning signs. Home purchases in the U.S. fell through at “the highest July rate on record”, and I think that the perception that home prices are starting to crash is contributing to this…

15% of home purchases fell through last month—the highest July rate on record—as high homebuying costs made buyers skittish. Cancellations were most common in Texas and Florida.

Roughly 58,000 U.S. home-purchase agreements were canceled in July, equal to 15.3% of homes that went under contract last month. That’s up from 14.5% a year earlier and marks the highest July rate in records dating back to 2017.

This is beginning to feel so much like 2008 and 2009.

And just like in 2008 and 2009, employers are conducting large scale layoffs all over the nation.

For example, employees at Paramount are bracing for “a massive round of layoffs”…

It will be a turkey of a Thanksgiving for thousands of Paramount employees.

The media giant is targeting early November for what one insider called an epic “bloodbath” — a massive round of layoffs following its merger with Hollywood studio Skydance Media, The Post has learned.

Jeff Shell — the former NBCUniversal boss tapped by Skydance as Paramount’s new president — has told managers at the home to Paramount Pictures, CBS, MTV and Showtime to start compiling “kill lists,” a source with knowledge said.

So many people are losing good jobs right now.

If you still have your job, you should consider yourself to be blessed.

I also wanted to mention that another large restaurant chain just declared bankruptcy…

Bravo Brio Restaurants LLC, the parent of Bravo! Italian Kitchen and Brio Italian Grille, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in five years, citing the “acute financial distress” facing the industry.

The company filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida on Aug. 18, aiming to restructure its debt, streamline and reduce operational expenses, shed underperforming leases, close underperforming locations and attract a new investor.

The worse that economic conditions get, the faster home prices are likely to fall.

And the faster that home prices fall, the more likely it is that we will see a financial panic.

The housing bubble that we are facing today is far, far larger than the housing bubble that burst in 2008 and 2009.

If you can’t see the storm clouds looming on the horizon at this stage, I don’t know what to say.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing. You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter. Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites. These are such troubled times, and people need hope. John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.