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Each week on The Download, Inman’s Christy Murdock takes a deeper look at the top-read stories of the week to give you what you’ll need to meet Monday head-on. This week: Is this week’s half-percent rate cut from the Federal Reserve the boost we’ve been waiting for to get sellers in the game?
Even at the best of times, real estate agents deal with uncertainty on every hand, from market conditions, economic factors and good ol’ human nature. The p——-ast year or two, however, has seen challenges stacked on top of each other.
Among these challenges, perhaps the most impactful for both buyers and sellers has been the rise in interest rates as part of the Federal Reserve’s effort to fight runaway inflation.
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For too long, buyers and sellers have been in a holding pattern as agents and brokers treaded water in the face of a down market and regulatory uncertainty. For sellers, high interest rates made it practically impossible to move up, requiring them to trade in their rock-bottom pandemic-era interest rate. For buyers, high interest rates were just one more financial challenge on top of tight inventory and sky-high home prices.
EXTRA: Existing-home sales continue to slide as buyers bide their time:
Can this week’s much-anticipated Federal Reserve rate cut juice the market and get consumers on both sides of the table ready to move?
Fed begins rate-cutting campaign with reduction in federal funds rate by Matt Carter
After it raised interest rates to the highest level in more than two decades to fight inflation, the Federal Reserve dropped the federal funds rate by half a percentage point on Wednesday and signaled that rates could come down by two percentage points by the end of 2025.
The “dot plot,” which charts future rate cut projections, showed the Fed expects to bring rates down by another half a percentage point by the end of this year, to between 4.25 and 4.50 percent, with another full percentage of rate cuts potentially on deck next year.
In announcing the cut, Fed policymakers said they have greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2 percent — and that the “economic outlook is uncertain.”
EXTRA: That big Fed rate cut was no panacea for housing: Fitch
Knowing your numbers and knowing how to act on the market-related clues they provide can make all the difference between flourishing and floundering in your real estate business. Fortunately, this week we have economic, operational and motivational experts on tap to ensure you make all the right moves in the weeks and months ahead.
Numbers you should know with Windermere Economist Jeff
In this exclusive video series on Inman, Windermere’s Principal Economist, Jeff Tucker, illuminates the latest stats, reports and numbers you should know. This week: The Fed’s latest rate cut.
9 proven ways to keep retention rates high when business is
Chris Pollinger shares powerful strategies to retain and motivate your real estate agents, even as listings hit all-time lows. Learn how to keep your team engaged and thriving during tough markets.
How to motivate, inspire and train your team amid
Great team leaders focus on business development and agent development, and the results can be staggering, coach Verl Workman writes.
EXTRA: What’s the biggest challenge in your business today? Pulse
Christy Murdock is a writer, coach and consultant and the owner of Writing Real Estate. Connect with Writing Real Estate on Instagram and subscribe to the weekly roundup, The Ketchup.
