How to decide when to retire and updates from the housing market.

You're listening to the Saturday Personal Finance edition of Motleypool Money.

I'm Robert Brok, but this week I speak with Motleypool contributor Dan Kaplanier about how we're each determining when we can retire.

But first, here's some news items from last week, and they all have to do with housing.

First up, Redfin announced that more than 40,000 home purchase agreements were canceled in December.

That represents 16.3% of all homes that went under contract the highest

percentage of monthly cancellation since Redfin began tracking the metric in 2017. One reason could be

that home buyers are becoming more cautious amidst economic anxiety. After all, the Michigan Consumer

Sentiment Index is near its lowest level in 50 years, though it has ticked up a bit in recent months.

But another reason is that inventory has risen, giving potential home buyers more choices.

According to Chen Zhao, head of economic research at Redfin, quote,

home sellers outnumber buyers by a record margin, meaning the buyers who are in the market have

options and may walk away if they believe they can find a better or more affordable home.

End of quote.

This rise in inventory has weighed on prices, which brings us to our second item.

Last week, it was announced that the S&K Schiller Home Price Index declined 0.1% in November and grew just 1.4%

year over year. That's a slowdown from what we've seen in recent years. Home prices are up more

than 50% since the pandemic, including double-digit gains in 2020 and 2021. Such strong price growth

over the past several years may have you wondering how real estate compares

to the stock market, while a recent article from the Bespoke Investment Group took a look and found

that the 20-year return of the S&P K Schiller Index is actually just 3.1% per year on average.

That's about what long-term treasuries have returned over the same period, and much less than the

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