Housing demand has slowed, but still stable for now 

Higher mortgage rates have tended to slow housing data over the past few years and that has been the case in 2026. But this year has been a bit more orderly since mortgage rates haven’t broken over 7%, and last week was another example of that.As always with my work, I believe mortgage rates above 6.64% slow housing demand, but I haven’t seen any major material changes this year beyond growth slowing to flat or slightly negative year over year. We also have to be mindful that year-over-year comps showing growth in housing demand will be difficult, as rates were falling at this time last year.One concern I always have with higher rates is whether sellers will call it quits and new listings will start to show negative year-over-year data, but that hasn’t happened yet this year. In fact, new listings have been very steady for the past few months. This ties into my theme that the housing story has been fairly stable in 2026, even with all the drama outside the housing world. New listing data One key to a healthier housing market post-COVID was getting new listings data back to normal, because most home sellers are buyers. And a lot of people believed that until rates fell, who would be...