The Housing Market Is in Recession. What It Means for Home Buyers.

In a matter of months, the pandemic’s red-hot housing market has chilled, recently entering what some economists have called a housing recession. The slowdown will contribute negatively to the economy but could present opportunities for some buyers who can stomach high prices.

Home sales have started to fall. Existing homes in July were sold at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 4.81 million, the lowest level since November 2015 excluding the market’s freeze at the beginning of the pandemic. New-home sales, too, have dropped, declining to their lowest level in six years in July.

CVS Health (ticker: CVS) is in advanced talks to acquire home-healthcare company Signify Health (SGFY) for around $8 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

CVS appears to have beat out other heavy hitters including Amazon.com (AMZN) and UnitedHealth (UNH), which that had been circling Signify for a deal that could be announced soon. UnitedHealth never submitted an official bid, one of the people said.