measures how consumers are feeling about home prices, mortgage rates, their job security, and, most importantly, whether they think it's a good time to buy or sell a house. The index, which ranges from 0 to 100, came in at a middling 61.3 in March, near the all-time low set in October and down from a COVID-era peak of more than 80 in summer 2021.
This has left real-estate agents fighting over a dwindling pool of listings. In fact, there were more than twice as many Realtors in March as active homes listed on the market — a total of roughly 1.5 million agents compared with just 563,000 houses. "In a sense, Realtors like to see fewer Realtors due to the large amount of industry competition," he told me.
No two real-estate markets are the same. But when prices were rising across the board during the height of the pandemic, it began to feel that way. As the market normalizes, it's becoming increasingly difficult to paint the national housing market in broad strokes — prices are now falling in some areas while continuing to rise in others — and these diverging trends are helping some Realtors in steadier markets find their footing.
"What makes a successful agent is somebody who knows how to market themselves and get referrals," Moriarty said."What makes a good real-estate agent and what makes a successful real-estate agent have almost no crossover."