Why are existing home sales down even with low rates?

Existing-home sales are down despite the rates has been down for more than a couple of weeks now according to National Association of Realtors (NAR),

 The sentiment was not shared by the refinance increase since the

Confidence matter more than the mortgage rates for people to be encouraged to buy new homes.

With the short supply of new affordable homes, the appetite of buying homes didn’t see any uptick in the last two months

Unlike with the increase in refinance applications, home buyers are cautious about the looming news of a recession and the uncertainty of growing trade concerns.

Even builder confidence are low, they are battling high land cost, lack of skilled workers and high raw materials cost. According to the National Association of home builders (NAHB), there was a 1% increase in builder confidence but did transfer to more sales for the month of July.

A big player in the housing market, KB homes, uses a build-to-order strategy which is designed to help with affordability.

Builders are still operating well below historical volume in building new homes.

With the constant news of the markets flashing recession warnings, does not provide confidence for new housing investments.

Buyers will still be on the sidelines and will continue existing home sales down until a more certain future could be seen in the future.