From LinkedIn

The Data Is Clear: We Are in a Transaction Recession, and Inventory Is Not the Problem

I’ve spent the last few weeks looking at the numbers, and I want to share something that might challenge what you’ve been hearing in the national headlines.

For three years, the story has been simple: the housing market is stalled because there are no homes to buy. I get it. That narrative made sense for a while. But if you look at what’s actually happening right now, it no longer holds up.

Active listings have risen for 27 consecutive months. Homes are sitting on the market longer than they have since before the pandemic. And yet transaction volume remains stuck near historic lows. We have homes. What we don’t have is movement.

This isn’t an inventory crisis. It’s a liquidity crisis. The market is frozen not because people lack options, but because the cost of moving has become prohibitive. I talk to families every week who want to upgrade, downsize, or relocate, and the math just doesn’t work for them. They’re stuck. And when people are stuck, the entire ecosystem suffers.

We can sustain a slow market. What we cannot sustain is a frozen one, especially when we’re watching foreclosures climb and families struggle to move. It’s time to pull the levers we actually control.