{"id":78,"date":"2026-10-07T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lynnemercer.com\/blog\/?p=78"},"modified":"2026-10-07T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T13:00:00","slug":"us-buyers-navigate-14-month-cost-high","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lynnemercer.com\/blog\/2026\/10\/07\/us-buyers-navigate-14-month-cost-high\/","title":{"rendered":"US Buyers Navigate 14-Month Cost High"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"video-zmyer\">\n<div class=\"video-frame-zmyer\">\n        <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/www.roomvu.com\/agent\/embed\/lynne-mercer\/mortgage-costs-high-0a00\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><br \/>\n        <\/iframe>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"video-description-zmyer\">\n<p>Over the years, I&#039;ve seen our real estate landscape shift through many cycles, but the current environment presents a unique challenge for buyers. By late Q3, the typical monthly payment for US buyers climbed to $2,600\u2014a 14-month high\u2014driven by rising mortgage rates and stable home prices. The national median sale price increased about 2% year-over-year to roughly $399,000, which continues to put pressure on affordability. As a result, pending sales have held steady month-over-month and remain lower than last year.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve noticed that while mortgage-purchase applications have dipped slightly, new listings\u2014though impacted by holiday timing\u2014are still modestly above the same period last year. Sellers are having to recalibrate: about 21% of active listings have reduced their prices, and it\u2019s clear that strategic pricing is drawing more interest, while overpricing quickly leads to hesitation from buyers.<\/p>\n<p>Active inventory has ticked up about 2% from last year, with 1.5 million homes on the market and supply nearing four months, though we\u2019re still short of a balanced market. Having helped clients navigate both competitive and shifting markets throughout Palo Alto, Mountain View, Menlo Park, and the surrounding Peninsula, I know firsthand how crucial it is to stay informed and adaptable. Thoughtful strategy and clear communication can make all the difference in times like these.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over the years, I&#039;ve seen our real estate landscape shift through many cycles, but the current environment presents a unique challenge for buyers. By late Q3, the typical monthly payment for US buyers climbed to $2,600\u2014a 14-month high\u2014driven by rising mortgage rates and stable home prices. The national median sale price increased about 2% year-over-year [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":235,"featured_media":79,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnemercer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnemercer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnemercer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnemercer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/235"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnemercer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnemercer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80,"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnemercer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78\/revisions\/80"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnemercer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnemercer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnemercer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnemercer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}