Pending home sales are down 1% year over year while new listings are still rising, giving buyers negotiating power.  Just over 28% of U.S. homes are selling above the asking price, down from 32% a year earlier. That’s the lowest level for this time of year since 2020, when the start of the pandemic ground the housing market to a halt.  That’s one signal of the shift toward a buyer’s market in much of the country. For the sake of comparison, more than half (53%) of homes sold above list price during this period in 2022, when the housing market was heavily favoring sellers. The share of homes selling above asking price has fallen year over year in all but five of the most populous U.S. metro areas; San Jose, CA, Anaheim, CA, and Oakland, CA saw the biggest declines, though more than half of homes are still selling above asking price in San Jose and Oakland. Here are some other data points…

From the NY Post: Here’s how much owning a home in 2030 will cost based on stagnant US salaries The national median home price is projected to climb to $615,103 by decade’s end, while income gains lag behind — leaving households across the country priced out of homeownership unless their earnings rise dramatically. Nowhere is the affordability crunch more severe than in Montana, where home prices are forecast to hit roughly $932,584. To keep up, the average household income would need to jump by an eye-popping 144%, reaching nearly $191,000. Once considered a haven of affordable living, the state’s housing market has spiraled upward amid a pandemic-fueled influx of remote workers. California, long a poster child for housing sticker shock, isn’t far behind. The Golden State is projected to see its median home price climb to more than $1.23 million, requiring households to bring in more than $250,000 annually — nearly a 140% increase in average salary — to afford a…