by Calculated Risk on 1/07/2026 12:37:00 PM
Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: 1st Look at Local Housing Markets in December
A brief excerpt:
Last year (2025) might have seen the lowest number of existing home sales since 1995. It will be close! Even if sales beat 2024 sales, these will be the two lowest sales years since 1995. Sales will be worse than any year during the housing bust.
Most readers probably don’t remember 1995, but I do! If I went to an open house ‘95, I was frequently the only person to visit all day. Just me and the crickets.
December sales will be mostly for contracts signed in October and November, and mortgage rates averaged 6.25% in October and 6.24% in November (lower than for closed sales in November). …
In December, sales in these early reporting markets were up 2.5% YoY. Last month, in November, these same markets were down 10.8% year-over-year Not Seasonally Adjusted (NSA).
Important: There was one more working days in December 2025 (22) as in December 2024 (21). So, the year-over-year change in the headline SA data will be less than the change in NSA data (there are other seasonal factors).
…
This was just several early reporting markets. Many more local markets to come!
There is much more in the article.
