The combination of the 2024 presidential election, anticipated future rate cuts, mortgage rate volatility and housing affordability challenges have led more potential homebuyers to stay on the sidelines. But a new report from Zonda says that after the election, consumers have started to regain their confidence in home shopping.
The New Home Market Update from Zonda, a construction data provider, was released Friday. Its survey data for November 2024 showed that 10% of builders reported that consumers were reentering the market following the election.
The builder survey contained responses like “there was a slower start to the month, but sales picked up after the election,” and “the month started slow, but things picked up mid-month.”
In November, 23% of builders lowered prices, 68% held prices flat and 9% raised prices. By comparison, in October, 18% of builders lowered prices, 69% held them and 13% increased them on a monthly basis.
“There’s no denying that incentives helped drive new home sales in November, especially for larger builders,” Ali Wolf, chief economist at Zonda, said in a statement. “Our data captured that 75% of all new home projects were offering some kind of incentive on quick move-in supply. The important difference seen in November, though, was a lift in consumer confidence. The election was over — it was time to move on.”
Zonda reported a rebound in new-home sales. Its data showed that November sales activity was 15.7% higher year over year and 17% above 2019 levels. The data provider calculated a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 740,636 new homes sold in November — up 3.1% from October 2024.
Zonda separated homes into three pricing tiers. Home prices increased to an average of $913,999 for high-end homes, up 0.4% year over year. Prices were down 2.2% for entry-level homes, which averaged $327,682, while move-up homes in the middle tier sank 1.3% to an average price of $517,479.
