Redfin data in October 2026 showed home sellers outnumbering buyers by 63 percent, the largest gap on record, while National Association of Realtors pending home sales fell 7.3 percent from August to September, the lowest since 2001 and far past the 0.5 percent decline forecast. Coverage ties the freeze to prices near all-time highs and mortgage rates around 7.3 percent, with a one-point rate increase pricing out nearly 6 million Americans from the median-priced home. The discussion has since widened: construction financing is being diverted to AI data centers as housing starts fall, and AI infrastructure spending runs at 3.6 percent of GDP against 2.2 percent for the railroad build-out.