The Housing Market Is Crazier Than It’s Been Since 2006

Limited inventory, low interest rates and bidding wars are driving prices sky-high. ‘It’s just taken a little bit of the joy out of the process.’

The U.S. mortgage market involves some key players that play important roles in the process. Here’s what investors should understand and what risks they take when investing in the industry. WSJ’s Telis Demos explains…

Less than a day after real-estate agent Andrea White listed a three-bedroom home for sale in Sacramento, Calif., in March, she received an all-cash offer. The buyer—who had not even seen the home in person—was ready to pay $520,000, Ms. White said. That was $21,000 above the asking price and 37% more than the seller had paid for the ranch-style home only two years ago.

Accepting the offer was the easy part. Ms. White then had to call 17 other agents who had scheduled tours of the house to let them know it was off the market.

Ms. White, who works for brokerage Redfin Corp. and has been an agent since 2014, has never seen anything like the sales mania gripping her Northern California city. “It’s exhausting,” she said. “I’m speechless. It’s heartbreaking for buyers; it’s celebration for sellers.”

Check out the full article on The Wall Street Journal, click here!