Housing market supply: Are buyers just ‘scared’ to make a move?

Yahoo Finance Video and Josh Lipton

Fri, February 20, 2026 at 6:23 AM GMT+9

In this video:

XHB

-1.45%

XLRE

-0.35%

The US housing market received a mixed bag of data on Thursday: as mortgage rates fell to their lowest level in almost four years, while pending home sales slipped to a new record low in January.

Kinloch Partners Co-Founder and CEO Bruce McNeilage touches on how prospective homebuyers are “staying in place” in regards to the houses and rental properties they already live in, commenting on the dire combo of a housing supply shortage compounded by price pressures.

To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Domination.

Video Transcript

00:00 Josh

We did get more housing data, Bruce. Maybe let’s start at a high level, Bruce. Um, big picture. You know, the state of our American housing market, Bruce. How would you say it’s changed over the past six months or or 12 months, Bruce? Like, what’s changed? What’s the same? How it is how it’s evolving, Bruce, for Americans listening right now that want to buy a home?

00:30 Bruce

Josh, people want to buy a home. They want to live in a home. The problem is they can’t afford one. Interest rates are too high. They’re strapped on credit card debt, they have student loans, and so they’re hunkering down. They’re staying in the house they own, they’re staying in the house they rent, or they’re staying in the apartment they rent. They’re just not there yet because they’re worried about the economy and they’re worried about their jobs.

01:03 Josh

My my buddy Joe Bruce Wales, Bruce, very smart economist over at RSM. Um he argues listen, we don’t have a housing demand problem. We don’t have a financing problem. What we have Joe says is a housing shortage problem. That is the issue. I guess one Bruce, do you agree with that? And two if you do, why? Why do we have a shortage?

01:31 Bruce

So I agree with everything he says with regard to the housing shortage I don’t agree. You can look at every MLS in the country, Josh. There are thousands and thousands of homes available, brand new homes that builders are building, high quality affordable houses, they’re just not selling. So I think the demand is there and I think the supply is there. People just aren’t ready to make a move, they’re scared to make a move, and so inventory is building up.

02:08 Josh

What what’s going on with pricing, Bruce?

02:12 Bruce

Pricing has stayed relatively flat and interest rates have come down a little bit, but nothing to really make people get off the fence. Uh there’s a little bit of pricing uh movement north of where we are or where we have been, but builders are giving great incentives, Josh. It’s really something that it’s like a perfect storm. The builders have the houses, they’re helping people uh buy down points or buy down interest rates. People just are too hesitant. They’re worried about their jobs, they’re worried about the economy, and so they’re just staying where they are.

02:51 Josh

Congress Bruce, as you know, our law makers there in Washington, they are all over this issue, right? Uh the journal had a a great write up to give them credit about how the House and Senate they’ve been hard at work. They actually recently passed their first significant bills literally in decades. Just aimed at this issue, aimed at addressing the housing issue. Uh the bill’s priorities, I don’t know if you saw this, Bruce, and I’ll I’ll just give you the high level here. What what are they focused on? The priorities, the policy priorities, pushing cities to build, streamlining environmental reviews, making it easier to build manufactured housing and expanding mortgage access. What do you think? Do they do those make sense? Are those are those smart policy moves by our lawmakers?

03:36 Bruce

They’re smart policy moves, but I look at cities in the Nashville, greater Nashville area. The impact fees these cities are charging are tens of thousands of dollars. They haven’t put in the correct infrastructure and planned for this growth, and they don’t have water and sewer capacity. So the houses aren’t getting built in those cities, and quite frankly, it’s because of the city’s lack of resources and lack of forthought to put in the infrastructure many years ago. So I see a lot of cities grappling with growth and they just weren’t prepared for growth and therefore that is causing uh some uh slowdown in those areas because builders can’t afford to build. The the fees that these cities are charging are just exorbitant.

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