A realtor stands at the end of the driveway, directing traffic, curtailing arguments, and bracing herself for the showing. It’s open house day. The house up for sale has so many prospective buyers that she has to act as a traffic cop first, then a realtor.  

This was the scene a few years ago when interest rates on houses were at an all-time low. Once a pandemic hit and rates surged higher, open houses became scarce, and sellers and buyers began “the waiting game.” 

There has been a standstill in the housing market post-pandemic, as homeowners and prospective buyers wait for rates and prices to change, but nothing has changed with rates or prices. On the bright side, trends show a slow increase in inventory, suggesting that homeowners and buyers have decided to wave a white flag — surrendering to the current market price gauge. The inventory is still simply too low for much movement to occur.  

According to Roseann Dugan, a realtor in the Bristol-Warren area, the wait is over, but not because anything has changed. She said, “People have been waiting to sell and buy, but now that they see nothing is going down in price, they are no longer waiting.” Dugan said the critical, driving factor in the market remains inventory.  

“Although inventory seems to be building back up since August of 2024, when there were only 600 single-family houses available, it’s still not high enough for there to be adequate choices,” she said. Dugan confirmed that the number of single-family homes available is currently hovering between 1,000 and 1,200 in Rhode Island. “This is still well below what is needed to have choices. It should be more like 3,000,” she added. However, she was happy to share some positive vibes. She confirmed, “Inventory — albeit slow — does seem to be on the rise.” 

The uncertainty caused by the interest rates on housing loans made it difficult to predict the future of the housing market, and although the pandemic is over, that future still seems uncertain. Dugan shared her experience during the pandemic. “Agents had to stand at doors acting as traffic cops as people fought to purchase houses at lower rates,” she said.

At that point, interest rates were between 2 percent and 3 percent, so many more people qualified for housing loans. She explained that the banks couldn’t sustain loans at those rates for long, so now that people have realized the “new normal” rate — between 6 percent and 7 percent  — is here to stay, fewer people qualify, leading to less competition. But there is also less inventory, which creates a different battle altogether.

“Before, only people who had to move were doing it. Now, more are opting to move even though prices have not gone down, but where can they go?” asked Dugan. The wait is over, but the need for more houses is the new issue at the forefront.  

Generational downsizing could bring new buyers

Dugan, who lives in an accessory dwelling unit on a family member’s property, downsized when her children grew up and moved out. She believes this needs to happen to help increase the inventory of houses so first-time homebuyers have options. “My age group needs to downsize and open the door to new first-time homebuyers,” she said.  

Another realtor in the area, Susan Kostas, echoed this sentiment, stating, “I’m actually creating a list of options for people who want to downsize but say, ‘We want to sell, but where would we go?’ ” She added, “We hear that so much.”

The problem, of course, is inventory. Dugan explained that rental prices are astronomical and not expected to decrease.

ADUs are a potential solution, but only if you already have a house with land and room to build one. So, in order to open up more houses, downsizing needs to occur, and the question of how this can happen looms in the shadows of the optimism that realtors feel about rising inventory as people move out of “the waiting game” phase.  

While the inventory problem looms, the sentiment remains optimistic. Dugan sees hope. “All indications show everything is on an upward trend,” she said.