US Pending Home Sales Fall to Lowest Since 2014 as Mortgage Rates Top 7%

The standstill is now structural rather than seasonal: a 7% mortgage rate is doing the rationing that price cuts used to do, and the buyers who remain are negotiating from a stronger position than at any point since the pandemic. The mismatch worth watching is that pending inventory is rebuilding even as transactions freeze — sellers listing into a market that cannot clear at their asking terms. Whether that inventory overhang forces capitulation on price, or simply sits and thins out the sales pipeline further, is the open question for the next few prints.