While the world holds its breath waiting for a possible recession, the housing market is still trying to regain its pre-pandemic footing amidst sky-rocketing prices and intense inflation.

According to Zillow, average monthly mortgage payments are a whopping 76% higher now than in June 2019. And this summer, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that “existing-home sales were down 5.9% from June and 20.2% from one year ago, with all four major U.S. regions recording month-over-month and year-over-year declines.”

Because of this, “Affordability is the key concern right now in the housing market,” according to NAR’s Vice President of Demographics and Behavioral Insights Jessica Lautz. “Both home prices and mortgage rates have risen, shutting the door on many potential first-time buyers, who are having a difficult time” — which means it’s up to us to step in.

What can we do to help people navigate buying a home and getting adequate coverage at a time like this? As we head toward 2023, keep the following trends, insights and ideas in mind:

Plateauing prices and ongoing uncertainty

The economic turmoil of the past few years has created a volatile landscape, and “following June’s surge in mortgage rates and the resulting dampening effect on housing demand, price growth is taking a decisive turn,” says Selma Hepp, interim lead of the Office of the Chief Economist at CoreLogic.

“Even though annual price growth remains in double digits, the month-over-month decline suggests further deceleration on the horizon. The higher cost of homeownership has clearly eroded affordability, as inflation-adjusted monthly mortgage expenses are now even higher than they were at their former peak in 2006.”

The VIU Perspective

In a strained market, creating non-interest-rate sensitive levers to help achieve affordability is more important than ever. Insurance is one such lever, particularly with a solution that offers customers across all segments and geographies broad carrier choice, deep expertise and transparency like VIU by HUB.