Today’s RealTrending features Skylar Olsen, chief economist for Zillow. In this fast-paced podcast, Skylar shares her predictions for the housing market and offers dialogue that real estate agents can use when speaking to buyers and sellers.
Whether you’re working with buyers who are on the fence or sellers not sure how to time the market, Skylar has the info you need to move them along.
Here is a small preview of today’s interview with Skylar. The transcript below has been lightly edited for length and clarity:
Tracey Velt: Let’s talk about your thoughts on the overall economy and where mortgage rates might be going.
Skylar Olsen: Mortgage rates are determined in a financial market. They’re about as predictable as stocks. They are certainly very volatile right now and that can, of course, be very stressful. But we are starting to see recent trends of mortgage rates coming down. It’s funny, we’re actually in a macro environment where bad news is good news. It’s kind of a little freaky. We’re starting to see wage growth come down and that’s great news for inflation. We’ve got signals on other prices coming down.
Financial markets start to understand that the Fed will not have to be so harsh on us, and continue so much upward pressure on interest rates. You can start to see mortgage rates drop with new economic news like that, in other words — knock on wood at this moment — we’re starting to believe that the soft landing is more and more possible.
The RealTrending podcast features the brightest minds in real estate. Twice a month, brokerage leaders, top agents, team leaders, and industry experts share their success secrets, trends, and lessons learned navigating this ever-changing industry. Hosted by Tracey Velt and produced by Elissa Branch.
