Real estate brokerage giant predicts a 'tough' market for remainder of 2023

While U.S. home buyers and renters don’t have much optimism about the market right now, one real estate brokerage giant added another woe to this year’s landscape.

While U.S. home buyers and renters don’t have much optimism about the market right now, one real estate brokerage giant added another woe to this year’s landscape.

"The market is at a standstill," Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman said on "The Claman Countdown" Tuesday. "Sales volume is absolutely rock bottom. The people who need to sell won't do it because they don't want to give up their mortgage. The people who normally would buy can't afford it."

"So buyers and sellers are at a standoff," he continued, "and it means that the industry is just going to have a tough 2023."

A new Redfin report released this month found the share of million-dollar homes is on the rise, as nearly 1 in 10 U.S. homes are worth at least $1 million, close to June’s all-time record high of 8.6%.

Kelman expressed that many Americans would be "shocked" to see "how little" $1 million buys in certain markets.

"People feel like they have to win the lottery just to be able to buy a home and start a family. And that is just a real challenge for the American dream," the Redfin exec said. "So the only solution to that is obviously more inventory."

Echoing similar concerns as Tobin, Kelman pointed out there’s been a "real vindication" at the local level of free market politics.

"Despite how important it is to the progressive agenda to make housing more affordable, almost all the regulations to do that just force builders to build elsewhere," he said. "People are voting with their feet. Even people who are politically in a different place with their pocketbook want an affordable house. And right now, the free market is able to deliver that better than most of the regulations we have."