Episode Summary
Is America short on homes, or short on affordable ones? In this Wednesday Punch List, Eric G walks through this week’s mortgage rates, existing, pending, and new home sales, builder price cuts, the remodeling market, Portland job losses, and the latest product safety recalls from the CPSC.
What We Cover
Mortgage Rates
- Freddie Mac’s 30-year fixed: 7.24%, down from 7.32% the week before and the lowest of the month
- 15-year fixed: 6.6%
- A year ago, the 30-year was 6.17%
- Mortgage News Daily index: 7.3%, up from 7.2%
- 10-year Treasury yield fell three basis points to 4.92%. Mortgage rates usually follow within a day or two.
- New Freddie Mac numbers come out Thursday
Existing and Pending Home Sales
- Existing home sales rose 1.5% in September to a 3.99 million annual pace, but are down 2.2% from a year ago
- Median existing home price: $417,500 (up 1.3% year over year)
- Inventory: 1.6 million homes, a 4.8-month supply
- Pending home sales fell 7.3%, and the NAR index dropped to 66, the lowest since the index began in 2001
New Construction: “No Housing Shortage”
- New home sales: 676,000 annual pace (down 0.6% from August, down 5.3% from a year ago)
- Median new home price: $400,400
- 8.4-month supply of new homes, which Eric says points to an affordability problem rather than a shortage
- NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index fell three points to 29, the lowest since June 2012
- Buyer traffic: 18
- 43% of builders cut prices in October and 65% offered incentives
- Buyer tip: If you’re shopping new construction, ask about rate buydowns and upgrades
Remodeling Market
- NAHB Remodeling Market Index: 62 in Q3, up one point
- Current conditions: 70 (flat for a third straight quarter)
- Large projects ($50,000 and up): up two points to 66
- Leads and inquiries: 53. Backlogs: 56
- Eric’s take on the West Coast: remodelers are busier elsewhere, but affordability pressures are costing jobs here
Portland Job Losses and Affordability
- Freightliner, founded in Portland and building trucks for 80 years, closed its operation on Friday, Oct. 31 and is moving to another state
- Eric points to job losses across Washington, Oregon, and California as a drag on West Coast housing prices
- Portland’s plan to close 14 schools, which Eric ties to families leaving and not being able to afford kids
Product Safety Recalls (source: cpsc.gov/recalls)
- Dreo space heaters (fire and burn hazards): 338,800 units in the U.S., about 36,000 in Canada
- NTI and HTP gas boilers (fire, carbon monoxide, and impact hazards): about 4,700 units in the U.S., 2,200 in Canada
- Bodum French press coffee makers with replaceable glass carafes (burn injury risk)
- Haiara power banks sold on Amazon (fire hazard): about 11,000 units
- Whatever Works microwave grills (fire hazard): about 8,700 units
- Ocoopa rechargeable hand warmers: 1.5 million units
- Plus more recalls on dressers without anti-tip hardware, mattresses, and kids’ clothing
Join the Conversation
Join Around The House Nation on Facebook, our friendly closed group, to post what you’re working on and ask your home improvement and design questions. One hour of this weekend’s show will be built around questions from the group. You can also message Eric at aroundthehouseonline.com.
Resources Mentioned
- CPSC recalls: cpsc.gov/recalls
- Around the House: aroundthehouseonline.com
- Facebook group: Around The House Nation
Takeaways:
- I said the election felt like a blunt affordability wake-up call — voters shouted ‘cheaper please’, and we want results, not party fandom over the next two years.
- We dug through mortgage headlines: 30-year rates hovering near 7.2%, about a full point above last year, so buyer calculus is tight and picky.
- I flagged the 8.4-month supply of new homes — that nukes the ‘housing shortage’ excuse and tells us the real monster is affordability.
- We saw builders getting desperate-ish — nearly half cutting prices and many offering incentives, so buyers can actually ask for upgrades and rate buydowns.
- I walked listeners through scary recalls — exploding power banks, fire-prone heaters, and fragile French presses — check cpsc.gov before your gadgets become pyrotechnics.
- We balanced gloom and hope: remodeling work remains steady in places, but job losses and school closures on the West Coast signal deeper affordability-driven migration.
Links referenced in this episode:
- cpsc.gov/recalls
- aroundthehouseonline.com
- youtube.com/@AroundTheHouseHQ
- facebook.com/aroundthehousenation
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Information given on the Around the House Show should not be considered construction or design advice for your specific project, nor is it intended to replace consulting at your home or jobsite by a building professional. The views and opinions expressed by those interviewed on the podcast are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Around the House Show.