美国国家公共电台 NPR--The frenzied housing market has hit a serious speed bump

The frenzied¹ housing market has hit a serious speed bump

Transcript²

September's existing home sales dropped 24% from a year ago — to the lowest level in a decade. Prices fell too. Higher mortgage rates have thrown cold water on the once hot market.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The housing market is in trouble.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

The number of sales in September is down 24% from a year ago to the lowest level in a decade. Prices are falling a bit, too.

INSKEEP: NPR's Chris Arnold joins us now to talk about whether the market could get even worse. Hey there, Chris.

CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE³: Hey, Steve.

INSKEEP: I think it's obvious to most people, but talk us through what's happening to the market.

ARNOLD: Well, as you probably would have guessed, this has everything to do with interest rates. I mean, they've gone from 3% at the start of the year to now up above 7%. I mean, that is a huge jump for something as expensive as a house. It adds a thousand dollars a month, about, to the monthly payment for a typical house. And that's making people rethink if they can afford to buy a home. And a lot of families with kids are struggling with this right now. I talked to Heather Gant. She used to be a Navy diesel⁴ mechanic. Her husband's an officer in the Navy, and he's away on a ship now. And they've agreed to buy a new home that's almost built in Virginia.

HEATHER GANT: He said last night that he hasn't been sleeping, thinking about it. This keeps me up every night. And then he just said, we're so screwed. And so then I said, well, then let's just back out.

ARNOLD: Actually, despite all of the angst, they are going to buy the place. But a lot of buyers just really can't afford it. And this affects sellers, too. You know, if you've got a mortgage at 3% or less on your current house, you know, it's - you don't really want to go buy another house and pay 7% on a mortgage. So that's keeping homes off the market. So both ways, this is slowing things down.

INSKEEP: Chris, even before this happened, the housing market seemed dysfunctional and choked. There weren't enough houses going on the market. Prices were going through the roof. So where does it head now?

ARNOLD: It depends on what parts of that you look at. I mean, there are some ominous⁵ signs. Sales have fallen for eight straight months now, eight months in a row fewer homes sold than the month before. That does not happen very often. I talked to Lawrence Yun about this. He's the chief economist⁶ for the National Association of Realtors.

LAWRENCE YUN: The last time we saw this is back in 2007, essentially⁷ a few months right before the great housing market crash that occurred. Now, of course, there are some differences.

ARNOLD: There's some very big differences. I mean, back then, millions of people had these subprime mortgages that were - just had these crazy terms where the payments went so high, no one could afford them.

INSKEEP: Yeah.

ARNOLD: That led to a wave of foreclosures. And so we had this glut⁸ of homes for sale, way too many homes. Today, it's the opposite. People have fixed-rate, safe mortgages that they can afford, and we have a housing shortage. Here's Lawrence Yun.

YUN: We had over 4 million homes available for sale back in the housing market crash of 2008, 2009, 4 million. Today, we are just at 1 million level. So still very tight inventory⁹ condition.

INSKEEP: Oh, wait a minute. The dysfunctional issue that I mentioned before, the shortage of homes for sale, might actually save the market?

ARNOLD: Exactly. You know, and nationally, most economists¹⁰ think, OK, prices might fall a bit, some say 10% from the top peak, maybe a little more, but not a crash. And it's actually amazing. I mean, homes are selling on average in just 19 days. That's really fast. So even with higher rates and fewer sales, there still just aren't enough homes. And they're selling quickly.

INSKEEP: What are you hearing from realtors?

ARNOLD: I check back in with a realtor we've been talking to during the really frenzied market of the past couple of years. Her name's Gabriela Raimander, and she's in Saint Petersburg, Fla.

GABRIELA RAIMANDER: Now we're seeing a normalcy again. Yes, there are open houses. People are actually going. They're looking at it. The buyers have definitely more of a chance to get a property.

ARNOLD: And if you can afford these rates, you can even bid a little under the asking price now, Steve.

INSKEEP: Chris, thanks so much.

ARNOLD: Thank you.

INSKEEP: His reporting is always full price. NPR's Chris Arnold.

1 frenzied   

a.激怒的；疯狂的

参考例句：

• Will this push him too far and lead to a frenzied attack? 这会不会逼他太甚，导致他进行疯狂的进攻？
• Two teenagers carried out a frenzied attack on a local shopkeeper. 两名十几岁的少年对当地的一个店主进行了疯狂的袭击。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 diesel   

n.柴油发动机，内燃机

参考例句：

• We experimented with diesel engines to drive the pumps.我们试着用柴油机来带动水泵。
• My tractor operates on diesel oil.我的那台拖拉机用柴油开动。

5 ominous   

adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的

参考例句：

• Those black clouds look ominous for our picnic.那些乌云对我们的野餐来说是个不祥之兆。
• There was an ominous silence at the other end of the phone.电话那头出现了不祥的沉默。

6 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

7 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

8 glut   

n.存货过多，供过于求；v.狼吞虎咽

参考例句：

• The glut of coffee led to a sharp drop in prices.咖啡供过于求道致价格急剧下跌。
• There's a glut of agricultural products in Western Europe.西欧的农产品供过于求。

9 inventory   

n.详细目录，存货清单

参考例句：

• Some stores inventory their stock once a week.有些商店每周清点存货一次。
• We will need to call on our supplier to get more inventory.我们必须请供应商送来更多存货。

10 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》