Jul 18, 2025
July 18, 2025
Overview:
- The Realtor.com® economics team video update gives you the relevant economic and real estate information you need to know each week every Friday to navigate the housing market as a homebuyer, home seller, or industry professional.
- For the week ending July 18, Realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale reviews the latest inflation data and its potential impact on the Fed’s thinking. She discusses mortgage rates and new construction data as well as highlights the latest trends in the housing market this week. Zooming out to look at the big picture, she shares insights on how often people are searching for real estate in areas other than where they live that come from the Realtor.com Cross-Market Demand report. Finally, she discusses the latest June Rental Trends, including the one market where monthly costs actually favor buying over renting.
- You’ll find all the details including full reports and our housing data for download at realtor.com/research. You can also follow us on X (formerly twitter) for real time updates. And instagram @realtordotcomecon for graphics
Reports and articles referenced:
- June 2025 Rental Trends Report
https://www.realtor.com/research/june-2025-rent/ - 2025Q2 Cross-Market Demand Report
https://www.realtor.com/research/q2-2025-cross-market-demand/ - Weekly Housing Trends Report – July 12, 2025:
https://www.realtor.com/research/weekly-housing-trends-view-data-week-july-12-2025/ - Commentary on June 2025 New Construction Trends:
https://www.realtor.com/research/new-home-construction-june-2025/ - Commentary on Mortgage Rates – July 17, 2025:
https://www.realtor.com/research/freddie-mac-mortgage-rates-july-17-2025/ - Commentary on June 2025 Consumer Price Index Inflation:
https://www.realtor.com/research/cpi-inflation-june-2025/
Housing data for download:
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
- I’m Danielle Hale, Chief Economist at Realtor.com®. This week, I’m going to review the latest inflation data and its potential impact on the Fed’s thinking. I’ll discuss mortgage rates and new construction data as well as highlight the latest trends in the housing market this week. Zooming out to look at the big picture, I’ll share insights on how often people are searching for real estate in areas other than where they live that come from the Realtor.com Cross-Market Demand report. Finally, I’ll discuss the latest June Rental Trends, including the one market where monthly costs actually favor buying over renting.
- First, as markets await the Fed’s next meeting and an eventual end to its current holding pattern, the Consumer Price Index data edged modestly higher, reinforcing the already broad consensus expectation in markets that we are unlikely to see a Fed rate cut in July, though that may not mean a unanimous decision.
- This result nudged mortgage rates higher for a second week. In the big picture, mortgage rates have ranged from roughly 6.7% to 6.9% since mid-April and this week’s move is well within those bounds.
- Looking at construction, homebuilder confidence edged higher in July, but remains pretty depressed, staying well-below 50, the reading that divides expansion from contraction in construction. Meanwhile June data showed a small uptick in housing permits and starts led by multi-family, but overall construction remains weak, with single-family permits and starts at 11-plus month lows.
- In the Realtor.com Weekly Housing Trends report, we see mixed performance. Prices continued to hold steady as momentum in active listing growth faded.
- A likely contributor was the fact that new listings were up just 1.3%, the smallest gain in at least 12 weeks. This mirrors findings in our June Housing Trends report that suggests at least some sellers are frustrated by this year’s housing market, and this week’s data implies that this shift could already be affecting seller decisions.
- In the second quarter, we also saw an interesting shift in home buyer behavior. Home shoppers tapped the brakes on shopping outside of where they live compared to a year ago, but cross-market shopping is still far more common now than in 2019, across the 100 largest metros.
- This suggests that Americans continue to take a broader view of where they can live, often looking beyond their current metro areas in hopes of stretching their dollar and improving their lifestyle. Underscoring this trend, large, expensive cities tended to top the list of markets with huge shares of shoppers looking elsewhere.
- Finally, June data show that rents continued to slip on a year over year basis, marking the 23rd straight monthly decline. Even so, the cumulative drop remains only roughly $50 below its 2022 high–a savings of less than 3%. There’s still a big gap in the cost of buying versus renting tipped in favor of renting in every market studied except Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
- You can find all the details, including full reports and our housing data for download, at realtor.com/research. You can also follow us on X (formerly twitter) for real time updates. And instagram for graphics.
Subscribe to our mailing list to receive monthly updates and notifications on the latest data and research.
