Americans staying put: US home turnover rate at lowest level in decades as housing slump drags on

By ALEX VEIGA LOS ANGELES AP The number of U S homes that typically change hands as people relocate for work retire or trade-up for more living space hasn t been this low in nearly years Related Articles Metro Denver ballots include housing measures tax questions and charter changes plus a little sex appeal Banks and retailers run short on pennies as the US Mint stops making them Federal Reserve cuts key rate yet Powell says future reductions are not locked in Social Protection recipients get a cost-of-living boost in average of per month US inflation stays elevated but prices rose less than feared last month About out of every homes changed hands between January and September the lowest U S home turnover rate going back to at least the s according to an analysis by Redfin The home turnover rate represents the number of homes sold divided by the total number of existing sellable properties While sales figures show whether more or fewer homes are selling in a given period the home turnover rate helps illustrate how homeowners are staying put longer It s not healthy for the market that people are staying put declared Daryl Fairweather chief economist at Redfin Consider the home sales turnover rate through the first nine months of this year is down about from the average rate over the same time periods between and Traditionally opportunities such as a new job or the need for more space when starting a family motivate homeowners to sell and relocate The fact that fewer homes are changing hands suggests they aren t seeing as numerous opportunities for employment mobility or perhaps can t afford to sell and buy at in the current era s prices and mortgage rates If people are stuck it s reflective of how the financial market is stuck Fairweather disclosed We re in a low-hire low-fire labor domain and I think that this goes hand in hand with that U S employers added just jobs in August according to the Labor Department down from in July and well below the that economists had expected Regime hiring records is on hold during the shutdown so the Labor Department s tally of hiring in September was never issued but earlier this month a survey by payroll company ADP manifested that the private sector lost jobs in September Meanwhile several large companies including Microsoft General Motors Amazon and Target have revealed job cuts The slowing job domain has a large number of Americans increasingly concerned That s not a good recipe for home sales Another factor keeping a lid on home sales Various homeowners who bought or refinanced to rock-bottom mortgage rates in and have little incentive to sell and buy a home at current home loan rates The U S housing realm has been in a slump dating back to the year mortgage rates began climbing from historic lows that fueled a homebuying frenzy at the start of this decade Sales of previously occupied U S homes sank last year to their lowest level in nearly years Sales have been sluggish this year although they accelerated last month to their fastest pace since February as mortgage rates eased The average rate on a -year mortgage fell this week to its lowest level in more than a year While lower rates boost home shoppers purchasing power borrowing costs remain too high for a large number of Americans to afford to buy a home following years of skyrocketing prices The median sales price of a previously occupied U S home has risen over the past six years