: Its a remarkably uncertain time: Redfin CEO warns of rapidly cooling housing market says deals under contract are...

After a stellar two-year run, the housing market is sputtering as buyers pull back sharply. One real-estate chief said the market is indeed course-correcting, and its getting hard to make a deal as more contracts falling through.

After the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates, demand fell sharply in May and June buyers were absolutely freaked out, Redfin RDFN, +1.81% CEO Glenn Kelman told MarketWatch in an interview.

Since then, the housing market has since recovered somewhat, he noted, but we still will have, even for the deals that are under contract, a very high cancellation rate.

Its just hard to put deals together because the economy is so volatile, he added. Its a remarkably uncertain time.

“Its just hard to put deals together because the economy is so volatile.”

Redfin Chief Executive Glenn Kelman

Responding to buyers pulling back from the market, sellers have also become increasingly apprehensive about listing.

New listings for homes have fallen 15% in the four weeks ending Aug. 21, a report published Thursday by Redfin said. That is the biggest decline in listings since the start of the pandemic.

Thats pushing down the supply of homes slightly, Redfin said, as the number of for-sale homes dropped 0.6% from the previous four week period.