U.S. homebuying has slumped to its slowest pace since June 2015, with annual sales at a 4.1 million rate, 6% below the 22‑year average.
How much do American house hunters dislike current home prices? It was a time when “Jurassic World” topped the box office and Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” was the No. 1 song.
That month, the Supreme Court allowed for gay marriage and upheld the financial backbone of Obamacare. Kraft and Heinz were merging, and eight of Realtor.com’s 20 “hottest” U.S. housing markets were in California. And since we’re now all soccer fans with the World Cup on U.S. soil, note that June 2015 was also when the sport’s then-big boss, Sepp Blatter of FIFA, resigned amid a huge corruption scandal that rocked the game worldwide.
My trusty spreadsheet found its way to that month’s real estate milestone after reviewing Attom sales data dating back to 2005. This tally tracks house and condo sales, both existing and newly built. Historically speaking, the 4.1 million sales nationwide in the 12 months ending in April were the slowest purchasing pace in almost 11 years. And it was 6% below the 22-year average.
The cooldown’s main culprit is pricing, as the nation’s median sales price hit a new record high in April. That $370,559 price tag barely topped the old high of $370,331 set in June 2025. Clearly, house hunters don’t want to pay up for housing when the U.S. job market is wobbly, pay raises are shrinking, and inflation has rekindled because there’s a war going on in Iran.
America’s median home price rose at only a 3% average annual rate over the past four years as the market digested the end of the Federal Reserve’s cheap-money policies. Compare that with the 9% yearly gains seen between 2015 and 2022, an era that included historically low mortgage rates. So, ponder the financial burden of today’s buyer. April’s median price – assuming that month’s 6.2% 30-year mortgage rate and a 20% down payment – equals a $1,813 monthly house payment.
That cost does not include property taxes, insurance, association fees, maintenance or the $74,000 down payment needed to make this deal work. Yes, that payment is 6% cheaper than June 2024’s peak, but that’s little solace for a budget-stressed house hunter. This payment yardstick has grown by 142% since June 2015 – the last time U.S. homebuying was slower. In April 2026, 44% of American households qualified to buy a typical home, according to California Association of Realtors statistics.
In June 2105, the ability-to-buy measure was 57%. Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at
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