{"id":65,"date":"2026-10-01T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.louiseandbernie.com\/blog\/?p=65"},"modified":"2026-10-01T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T14:00:00","slug":"us-buyers-navigate-14-month-cost-high","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.louiseandbernie.com\/blog\/2026\/10\/01\/us-buyers-navigate-14-month-cost-high\/","title":{"rendered":"US Buyers Navigate 14-Month Cost High"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"video-zmyer\">\n<div class=\"video-frame-zmyer\">\n        <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/www.roomvu.com\/agent\/embed\/louise-lamy-1690535\/mortgage-costs-high-0a00\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><br \/>\n        <\/iframe>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"video-description-zmyer\">\n<p>We&#039;re seeing affordability challenges reach new heights\u2014by late Q3, the typical U.S. buyer\u2019s monthly payment climbed to $2,600, the highest in 14 months. While mortgage rates ticked up, median sale prices stayed steady, rising about 2% year-over-year to nearly $399,000. That\u2019s put extra pressure on buyers, and as a result, pending sales have remained flat month-over-month and are down from last year. Mortgage purchase applications have dipped slightly, and new listings also dropped a bit around the holidays, though they\u2019re still a bit higher than this time in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>What really stands out in this shifting market is how much pricing strategy matters. About 21% of active listings saw a price cut. I\u2019ve seen firsthand that sharper, realistic pricing draws attention\u2014while overpricing can make even great homes linger. Inventory is slowly improving too, with active supply up about 2% year-over-year to 1.5 million homes, and supply inching toward four months, though we\u2019re not quite at a balanced market yet.<\/p>\n<p>After 25 years in real estate, I know navigating these changes takes clear communication and a practical approach. Whether you\u2019re a first-time buyer, moving up, or planning your next chapter, making smart decisions in this market comes down to understanding the numbers and staying nimble.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We&#039;re seeing affordability challenges reach new heights\u2014by late Q3, the typical U.S. buyer\u2019s monthly payment climbed to $2,600, the highest in 14 months. While mortgage rates ticked up, median sale prices stayed steady, rising about 2% year-over-year to nearly $399,000. That\u2019s put extra pressure on buyers, and as a result, pending sales have remained flat [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":233,"featured_media":66,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.louiseandbernie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.louiseandbernie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.louiseandbernie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.louiseandbernie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/233"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.louiseandbernie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.louiseandbernie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67,"href":"https:\/\/www.louiseandbernie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions\/67"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.louiseandbernie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.louiseandbernie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.louiseandbernie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.louiseandbernie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}