By March 26, the faltering U.S. housing market achieved a new concerning record as the gap between the number of home sellers and home buyers hit a new high.
Specifically, approximately 2 million Americans are attempting to sell a house while only about 1.36 million are looking to purchase one, for a total difference of 630,000, per Redfin and MLS data Finbold retrieved via Barchart.
The growing gap comes at a time when Google Trends shows that a record number of people are looking for online solutions when attempting to find a house and when trying to afford to pay their mortgage.
Furthermore, multiple analysts, including the top economist Peter Schiff, believe that the forces underpinning the pressure on the U.S. housing market constitute ‘a crisis worse than 2008.’
Indeed, in a March 24 X post, Schiff opined that the American real estate market is close to collapsing as a growing number of pressures are squeezing the citizens of the country.
Why Peter Schiff believes there is ‘a crisis worse than 2008’
The economist took particular note of mortgage rates, insurance, utilities, and taxes. Simultaneously, he reflected on inflation, which, while apparently under control based on the data from earlier in 2026, is generally expected to soar between the supply chain pressures due to the Iran war and the February spike in import prices.
Simultaneously and in addition to the most recent geopolitical pressures, Peter Schiff believes that deficit spending is a separate and significant contributor to the worsening economic situation in the country.
It is worth noting that, in his first 13 months in office, President Donald Trump added an estimated $2.6 trillion to the national burden. For comparison, President Joe Biden added an estimated $2.2 trillion during his final 12 months in the White House.
Housing market continues buckling despite affordability improvements
Elsewhere, the overall pressures on the economy and everyday Americans can also be extrapolated from the interplay of two sets of data that seemingly contradict each other.
Specifically, the gap between the number of sellers and buyers in the housing market has grown to a new record, and, according to data from Zillow, the number of ‘accidental landlords’ – people who turn to renting out their properties due to not being able to sell for extended periods – has also grown.
Simultaneously, Redfin data shows that, at the border between 2025 and 2026, affordability has actually improved approximately 4%, leading to the conclusion that Americans either have less money to spend, or are significantly more uncertain about their financial health, even in the short-term.
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