In this episode of The Movoto Mic, we are joined by Chris Heller, President of Movoto.com, to explore the dynamics of affordability, buyer confidence, and politics in today’s housing market. From the impact of mortgage rates and election cycles to the surprising steadiness of cities like Omaha, we dive into the headlines shaping the housing market. Whether you’re a buyer, seller, or industry professional, this episode is packed with actionable insights and expert opinions.
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Sophie: 0:08: Â Hello and welcome to the Movoto Mic, the official podcast of Movoto.com, the largest privately owned residential real estate search platform in the US. I’m your host, Sophie Brandeis and I’m here with my co-host Jenna Housson.Â
Jenna: 0:21: Hello, Sophie. Well, for season two, we’re shaking things up a little bit. Each episode, we will bring you the top headlines for all things real estate and we’re going to have experts weigh in with their insights. It’ll be just like we are reading the housing market news to you with an expert to kick off this episode.Â
Sophie: 0:39: I am excited to welcome the president of Movoto.com, Chris Heller.Â
Chris: 0:44: Hey guys, how are you?Â
Sophie: 0:45: Good. We’re excited to have you on. Are you ready to dive into the first headline?Â
Chris: 0:50: Let’s do it.Â
HEADLINE: What Trump’s presidency could mean for the housing market in the US
AUTHOR: Ana Teresa Solá
LINK: CNBC
Sophie: 0:51: The first headline is what Trump’s presidency could mean for the housing market in the US. The main quote that I pulled from this article is,Trump’s proposed tax cuts and deregulation could stimulate economic growth, potentially boosting housing demand. The author then goes on to talk about how while Trump’s economic policies could boost housing demand, there also could have downsides like high interest rates affecting affordability. What are your thoughts on this?Â
Chris: 1:20: Yeah, I think, I think all those are realistic possibilities and, and others too. And, you know, we’re in a, we’re in a world today where nothing is real simple and there’s, there’s cause and effect that has a ripple effect. So yes, could, could it cause an increase in demand for housing? You know, if the economy picks up and confidence levels go up then absolutely but also some of the other things could cause prices to go up. If prices go up, then there’s a counter effect to that because affordability becomes a real issue, whether it’s high rising interest rates or inflation, which you know, impacts people’s buying power because their, their other costs go up or, you know, tariffs that, that could cause building materials to go up. So there’s just a lot of different, different things and it’s too early to tell, you know, which ones will, will impact the housing market the most, right.Â
Sophie: 2:21: So this article is very much like there are upsides and there are downsides too, to Trump coming back into office and basically saying you agree and it’s a wait and see situation.Â
Chris: 2:29: Yeah, there definitely will be upsides and downsides and we don’t know which of those things will happen at what level and we don’t know when they’ll happen. And so it’s hard to, it’s hard to anticipate or predict when the impact will have on the real estate market.Â
HEADLINE: Anthony Lamacchia on the state of the housing market
AUTHOR: Sarah Wheeler
LINK: HousingWire
Jenna: 2:43: Chris, I want to get your thoughts on this next headline. So Anthony Lamacchia spoke about the state of the housing market on Housing Wire. Essentially, he discusses the current rate of the housing market, highlighting the industry’s focus on mortgage rates and the impact of the upcoming election… well, past election. Now he emphasizes the need to be able to adapt in strategic planning and navigating these influences. He mainly was saying here that the housing market is heavily influenced by mortgage rates and political factors for strategic adaptability. What is your reaction when you hear something like this, agree, disagree. Have thoughts?Â
Chris: 3:23: I agree to a certain extent that the housing market is impacted by affordability and confidence levels more than anything. The things that Anthony brought up are contributors to affordability and confidence levels. So to that extent, I agree with them, what does that mean?Â
Jenna: 3:47: Elaborate a little bit on confidence? What would that, what does that look like? Is it a trend that we typically see happening in election years of a lack of confidence? Can you tell us a little bit more about what you mean?Â
Chris: 3:58: Yeah, I know it comes down to consumer confidence when, when with big ticket items and housing is a big ticket item and maybe the biggest ticket item that consumers deal with how they feel about their situation, how they feel about the country’s situation, how they feel about the economic situation, how they feel about their prospects for employment or for, for advancement, all impact their decisions on whether you know, they’re comfortable buying or selling or, or making a move. So the more confident people are, the more movement you see, the more supply, you know, the more demand, the more activity in the market, the more sellers, you know, making changes, the lower, the confidence, the more people tend to hunker down and stay put.Â
Sophie: 4:45: Would you say that this industry is addicted to mortgage rates? That’s what he talks about in the podcast.Â
Chris: 4:50: Yeah, I’ve never thought of it in that, in those terms. I think this industry people focus too much on interest rates and so if, if that’s what he means by addiction then yeah, I could, I could align with that. I think the interest rates are just, are just one of the, you know, one of the, the factors, right? It’s like, someone thinking about buying a new car and, and saying all the price of gas is the reason they do or they don’t. Well, it may be a factor on what type of car they buy or if or when they buy. But there’s, there’s other things like the price of the car and, you know, again how, how they’re, how confident they are and their ability to stay employed or to, to have advancement in their employment, to, you know, pay for the new car housing market crisis.Â
HEADLINE: The housing market’s affordability crisis gave Trump a big boost at the polls
AUTHOR: Jason Ma
LINK: Fortune
Sophie: 5:44: How the presidential election could impact housing affordability? The author’s main point was that the housing market was a central focal point in the election just as it’s going to be a focal point in the administration. So I wanted to hear your thoughts on that.Â
Chris: 6:00: I’m not convinced that it will be a focal point of the administration. It’s certainly one of the biggest sectors of the economy. So to that extent, you know, it’ll be involved in decisions and policies and everything else. I think there’s two things that impact affordability. One is the cost of borrowing money and the other is the cost of the home. Right. So if, if homes were 20% less and interest rates were 20% higher,, you could even actually see affordability, you know, go down or vice versa. So, you know, I think there’s,, you know, and, and what causes prices to go down. Well, if there’s significantly more supply than demand that puts downward pressure on prices, I don’t see anything on the horizon that’s going to cause that. Now typically when,, you know, if the cost gets too high, our interest rates get too high, we see the, the rate of the velocity of, of homes going off the market slow down, which causes then supply to, to keep start creeping up, you know, with, you know, because we’ve had such a, a lack of supply, you know, that would have to persist for quite a while before we, you know, enough inventory on the market to where there was actually downward pressure on prices. And I, and I’m not saying it couldn’t happen. I’m just saying that those are the types of things that cause it to happen.Â
Sophie: 7:30: We had a conversation on this podcast last episode with Connor Sen and he was talking about like, is it the chicken or the egg? What is the cause of the inventory issue? Is it construction? Is it consumer sentiment?Â
Chris: 7:41: Yeah. And I think the coming out of the last housing crisis and you know, from 2008 to 2000, you know, 11 or so, it was construction because when you stop construction for three or four years, you don’t recover from that quickly.Â
Sophie: 7:57: So my second point is that the headline actually changed, sometimes headlines change to better align with the content of the article. And the headline for the article that I just read you is, the housing market’s affordability crisis gave Trump a big boost at the polls. Do you agree with this? Do you think housing was that much of a focal point of Trump’s campaign that it gave him a boost? Was it consumer confidence and sentiment of America during the election?
Chris: 8:22: I think he doubled down on the cost of everything. Right. We all, we all heard more times than we wanted to about the cost of eggs. And, you know, and whether it’s the cost of eggs, the cost of housing, you know, that, that resonates with a large percentage of our population that said, yeah, we don’t, we don’t like high costs. We want costs to be lower. Well, of course, everyone does, now, you know, now the reality will set in on whether, whether the things can be done to impact that and to bring costs down.Â
HEADLINE: Housing market pauses for election
AUTHOR: Mike Simonsen
LINK: HousingWire
Jenna 8:57: Chris, the next headline I’m gonna read to you is also from Housing Wire and it reads housing market pauses for election with the main quote being inventory, new listings, sales and prices all dipped this week, the autumn, seasonal decline is upon us. Do you agree? Disagree? What are your thoughts?Â
Chris: 9:17: No, I agree. I’ve been in this, in this industry long enough to bend through nine or 10 elections. And that’s a very common occurrence. You know, people again with a big decision and buying or selling a home is a big decision with something that’s as consuming,, as an election. And when I say consuming, I mean, you know, in the media in your, you know, you know, you’re being,, deluged with, with, you know,, campaign and election stuff 24/7. That it’s, it’s very common for people to say, hey, I wanna wait and see. You know, I wanna, I don’t wanna do anything right now. Now, is that a rational thought or decision? You know, I could argue. Yeah, both ways. The reality of it is nothing changes dramatically the day after the election or the week after, or two weeks after. So, you know, people that were waiting to wake up and go well, I guess the world is still here and things that haven’t come to a world haven’t come to an end. So, but yes, people tend to, you know, the closer you get to the election, the more people tend to not take action.Â
Jenna: 10:32: I have a follow up question in regards to the seasonal decline. Is this something we typically see on a non election year, even around the holidays and do it in a non election year? Would we expect that to pick up come January 1st once the holidays pass? But since it is an election year and the new presidential office change happens early January, do we expect that to last a little longer this year or what historically have you seen that trend look like?Â
Chris: 10:58: Yeah, that’s a good question. So yes, seasonality in the real estate market is real. It’s more pronounced in some regions of the country than others and on the coast where, you know, let’s say California and Florida where the weather is good. You don’t feel it as much right now if you’re in, you know, North Dakota or Minnesota. Yeah, people aren’t out looking at houses and going to open houses when it’s, you know, 10 below zero. So seasonality is a real thing and then you have the impact of the holidays, which is part of the seasonality, you know, where people get distracted, you know, with, with holiday stuff, right? With travel, with shopping, with family, with events. And so, you know, people tend that the people that don’t have to tend not to do things during those times of year. Typically January, like, you know, as soon as the world goes back to work or whatever day of the week it is January 3rd or fourth each year, we usually see a real change in the market. Now, could this, the impact of the, you know, changing the administration damper that a little bit? Yeah, it probably could and it, and it probably will, but we’re talking about a, you know, a few weeks of delay which, which in the big picture won’t have a significant impact.Â
HEADLINE: What Makes Omaha Different From Other Million-Dollar Housing Markets
AUTHOR: Jessica FlintÂ
LINK: The Wall Street Journal
Sophie: 12:23: Speaking of cities that get really cold, the city of Omaha Nebraska recently made the news in the Wall Street Journal. So the headline here reads what makes Omaha different from other million dollar housing markets. Essentially, this article is about how despite being home to billionaires like Warren Buffett, Omaha maintains a relatively low median home sale price of $315,000 which is really different from cities like San Francisco and New York. And the article attributes the affordability to a steady housing supply and economic stability
Chris: 13:10: In places like Omaha and a lot of cities in the middle of the country, you don’t tend to have as big swings of, of demand as you do and, and you know, the coastal areas, right? So we don’t, we tend not to see,, you know, prices move as, as high and as fast and nor do we see them come down as low as, as fast, right? So you just tend not to see the appreciation there. Now if all of a sudden major industries or corporations were all moving to Omaha, you would see the prices go up. All right, because there would be a lot more demand. So it’s a steadiness to those markets where there’s, you know, you know, predictable type of, you know, demand and supply that keeps prices moderate.
HEADLINE: Mortgage lenders will be more profitable in 2025, but there are headwinds, Fitch says
AUTHOR: Flávia Furlan Nunes
LINK: HousingWire
Jenna: 14:00: Shifting gears a little bit, I have another article from Housing Wire Chris, this headline reads, mortgage lenders will be more profitable in 2025 but there are headwinds. The main quote in this article says top non-bank lenders are well positioned to benefit from higher volumes margins as market consolidation continues. What’s your reaction whenever you hear this?Â
Chris: 14:16: I think that’s very real. You’ll see within the industry and there’s likely and hopefully will, you know, will be interest rate reductions which plays to the strong suit of these banks. They are poised and able to capitalize on refinance business when it’s, when it’s there and when it makes sense for consumers.
HEADLINE: Real-Estate Scions Are Breaking a Cardinal Rule: Never Sell
AUTHOR: Peter Grant
LINK: The Wall Street Journal
Sophie: 14:45: One more headline for you, this headline reads real estate scions are breaking a cardinal rule, never sell. So this article is not about residential real estate. It’s about commercial real estate and it was published in the Wall Street Journal. The article is really interesting to me because it talked about how multigenerational real estate families re-evaluate their long held strategy of retaining properties indefinitely. What are your thoughts on the office market and people selling?Â
Chris: 15:13: Yeah, like I think there’s a direct correlation between that and what’s been happening. Yeah, in the office space and the and what people think will continue to happen in the office space, right? We had a pandemic hit the proverbial horses out of the barn. People, you know, went home to work and a lot of them haven’t returned. And so the need and demand for office space is was for probably forever changed or at least forever impacted And so if you’re a, a family that owns, you know, a lot of that type of, of asset, you know, you’re saying, well, you know, do we, is this the future we wanna, we wanna bank on or do we wanna start to diversify? And, you know, it’s, I think it’s a, a rational and logical consequence of, of the changes of, of our, you know, of how we work.Â
Sophie: 16:13: All right. Well, thank you Chris for reading the news with us.Â
Chris: 16:17: My pleasure.
