--- title: Why the Housing Market Isn't Cooling Off, Even as Prices and Mortgage Rates Surge description: You might expect surging home prices and rising mortgage rates to push buyers out of the market — but competition is actually heating up. authors: - name: Sarah Hansen role: Senior Writer url: https://money.com/author/sarah-hansen/ bio: Sarah Hansen is a senior writer at Money covering all things personal finance. Previously, she covered economic policy and capital markets on the breaking news desk at Forbes. education: Northwestern University, New York University at_money_since: 2021 articles: 347 covers: - Mortgages - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-m-hansen/ former_staff: true published: '2022-05-19T17:42:02.000Z' modified: '2024-01-10T17:31:00.000Z' section: Mortgages tags: - Housing Market - News word_count: 528 canonical: https://money.com/housing-market-not-cooling/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We may earn a fee if you click on the links below. Compensation does not determine ranking. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Collage of multiple houses with "For Sale" signs](https://img.money.com/2022/05/News-2022-Home-Pricing-Super-Competitive.jpg?crop=0px%2C188px%2C2880px%2C1620px&quality=85) Homes for sale keep getting more expensive, but [rising costs](https://money.com/rising-costs-homeownership-taxes-insurance-tips/) aren’t deterring enough buyers to slow things down — for now, at least. New [data](https://www.zillow.com/research/april-2022-market-report-31040/) from Zillow shows that despite soaring [prices](https://money.com/rising-costs-homeownership-taxes-insurance-tips/) (up more than 20% over the past year) and surging [mortgage rates](https://money.com/current-mortgage-rates/) (which have pushed the typical monthly mortgage payment 52% higher than last year), the U.S. housing market is as cutthroat as it’s ever been. On the surface, you might expect high prices and rising rates to push some buyers out of the market and make home shopping easier for those remaining. But competition is actually heating up. The typical home for sale in April went into contract in just seven days, according to Zillow. (In April 2019, it took 24 days for an offer to be accepted on a typical home.) A recent [report](https://www.redfin.com/news/housing-market-update-fewer-buyers-faster-sales/) from Redfin suggested that the increasing pace of home sales is due to buyers “rushing to snag homes before they become even more expensive.” And it’s not only that homes are selling faster than before. They’re also selling above their asking prices — a sign, Zillow says, that buyers are attempting to outbid competition. Of the homes that sold in March, 48% went for more than the listing price. That's up from March 2019, when 37.5% of homes sold for over asking price. Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, called the current housing situation “quite unusual” in a Tuesday [news release](https://www.nar.realtor/newsroom/existing-home-sales-retract-2-4-in-april). “Sales are coming down,” he said, “but listed homes are still selling swiftly, and home prices are much higher than a year ago.” That's bad news for hopeful buyers, at least in the short term. “With bidding wars continuing to drive up prices on limited inventory,” Zillow economist Nicole Bachaud said in a [news release](http://zillow.mediaroom.com/2022-05-19-The-housing-market-is-as-competitive-as-ever-despite-53-rise-in-mortgage-costs), “those in the market today likely won't feel much relief." ## Will the market ever cool off? Though competition is stiff today, experts are seeing some signs that a cooldown is around the corner. More sellers are beginning to [drop their asking prices](https://money.com/more-home-sellers-dropping-asking-prices/), and inventory is rising, according to Zillow data. Existing home sales fell 2.4% between March and April, according to NAR. That’s the third straight month of declines. Yun said he expects more declines in buyer activity in the months to come. Eventually, it’s likely that rising costs will deter enough buyers to bring prices back down to Earth. “But,” Zillow’s Bachaud said, “we have not yet reached that point." If you're a prospective buyer planning to wade into the market this spring, there are [steps you can take](https://money.com/spring-home-buying-outlook-tips/) to make the process as painless as possible. With mortgage rates rising across the board, for instance, it's smart to get quotes from multiple lenders to make sure you're getting the best possible rate. It's also a good idea to show sellers that you're serious by getting pre-approved for a mortgage before you start your search. Read our spring 2022 homebuying guide [here](https://money.com/spring-home-buying-outlook-tips/). ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/housing-market-not-cooling/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Mortgages", "item": "https://money.com/mortgages/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Mortgage Rates", "item": "https://money.com/mortgage-rates/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Why the Housing Market Isn't Cooling Off, Even as Prices and Mortgage Rates Surge" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/housing-market-not-cooling/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/housing-market-not-cooling/", "name": "Why the Housing Market Isn't Cooling Off, Even as Prices and Mortgage Rates Surge", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2022-05-19T17:42:02.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/housing-market-not-cooling/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/housing-market-not-cooling/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-01-10T17:31:00.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Why the Housing Market Isn't Cooling Off, Even as Prices and Mortgage Rates Surge", "articleSection": "Mortgages", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2022/05/News-2022-Home-Pricing-Super-Competitive.jpg?crop=0px%2C188px%2C2880px%2C1620px&quality=85", "width": 1012, "height": 569, "caption": "News-2022-Home-Pricing-Super-Competitive" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sarah Hansen", "url": "https://money.com/author/sarah-hansen/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/sarah-hansen/#author", "description": "Sarah Hansen is a senior writer at Money covering all things personal finance. 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