War and Rising Rates Can’t Slow the Spring Housing Rush

As the war in Iran continues on, it's placing economic uncertainty on homebuyers navigating the spring selling season.

Despite that, there's been an uptick in market pace, according to the Realtor.com® Weekly Housing Trends report.

Homes are spending a shorter number of days on market compared with previous weeks. Shoppers are moving on available opportunities, thanks to rising inventory, lower prices, and mortgage rates that, despite rising, remain at their most favorable springtime levels since 2022.

Still, mortgage rates continue to climb for the fifth straight week. The average rate on a 30-year fixed home loan is 6.46% for the week ending April 2, according to Freddie Mac. That is up from the prior week when rates registered 6.38%, but it's still lower than the same time last year, when rates averaged 6.64%.

Meanwhile, Fed Chair Jerome Powell addressed those economic concerns this week during a talk with economic students from Harvard University. He said the oil price shock from the war would likely be temporary, but noted that it was too early to judge the conflict's full impact.

Realtor.com economists say favorable homebuying conditions exist today despite the uncertainty.

Active home listing inventory has climbed 5.7% year over year, pushing the inventory of homes for sale above 2025 levels.

Inventory is up 7.9%, but it's slowing because the pace of sales may be picking up compared with earlier in the year.

New listings growth was up 0.7% year over year in March, but the year-to-date total remains negative. There have been 1.6% fewer new listings this year than there were in 2025 to this point, according to the recent data.

New listings measure sellers putting their homes up for sale. Sellers may have been encouraged to list their homes after seeing lower mortgage rates, but buyers may still be cautious as those rates rise.

Overall, homes are spending longer on the market—two days longer than a year ago. The median home spent 54 days on the market this week.

Realtor.com economists say as the national "best time to sell" week approaches, they're expecting to see homes sell faster, if buyers decide to take advantage of rates before they increase.

Buyers will find that the median list price fell -1.2% year over year—that marks the 23rd straight week of flat or negative growth year over year. The price per square foot also dropped year over year -2.2%.