A report from CNBC. "Why aren’t builders rushing to put shovels in the ground? Speaking at CNBC’s Capital Exchange event in Washington, D.C., Sheryl Palmer, the CEO of Arizona-based Taylor Morrison Homes put it bluntly: 'The fourth quarter [of 2018] was probably, holistically, the worst quarter we’ve had as an industry since the downturn, and we ended the year with a tremendous amount of inventory,' she said. 'In December, if you were to talk to anybody, there was, potentially, a house was never going to be sold in the U.S. again. It was that bad.'"

"After a robust first half of 2018, consumers were hit with higher mortgage rates, a government shutdown and uncertainty in the stock market, leading them to wonder if it was the right time for such a huge investment. Demand fell suddenly, and builders were stuck holding the bag."

"Homebuilder sentiment is now rising, and while housing starts rose month over month in April, they were still not as strong as last year and still well below historically normal levels of production. 'People came into the year with a lot of inventory, because the fourth quarter stopped,' said Palmer. 'You can’t just pick up that machine and say, 'Okay, it’s time again, I need new starts.'"

"'No one can figure out how to build more affordable without some type of change in either the regulatory structure or some form of additional subsidy,' said David Brickman, incoming CEO of Freddie Mac. 'It is just fundamental economics of building. It is very difficult between land costs, building costs, availability, regulations, it’s difficult to get entitled land where people want to live. So cost of building a single apartment unit exceeds what you can rent it out for.'"

"During the last housing boom, builders were mitigating costs by developing land further out from major metropolitan cities. The so-called exurbs allowed them to build a larger volume of more affordable homes, but today’s homebuyers are not like previous generations."

"'The consumer dynamic has changed,' said Palmer. 'The whole ‘drive ‘til you can buy’ isn’t nearly as attractive as it was many, many years ago when we look at this millennial population, and it’s about a third of our business. They’re choosing to wait until they can buy what they want. They don’t want that hour commute.'"

From Consumer Affairs. "Millennials have helped fuel the rebound in the housing market by purchasing their first homes. But a recent survey by Clever, a real estate website, finds many of these millennials wish they had kept on renting."

"When it comes to millennial homebuyers, nearly half admitted to having a case of buyer’s remorse. The survey found the source of that stress is mostly financial. Two-thirds of millennial buyers put less than 20 percent of the purchase price down, resulting in large mortgage payments. In addition to paying ore in interest, buyers putting down less than 20 percent also have to pay mortgage insurance."

"Millennials are also planning to make a lot more improvements to their homes than baby boomers. That may be due to a recent trend of first-time buyers purchasing a fixer-upper to save money. Millennials are planning 49 percent more renovations. They’re also three times as likely to finance the work with a personal loan and twice as likely to use a credit card -- both very expensive types of loans."

"Finally, many first-time buyers may be discouraged by the chores that homeownership brings Forty-three percent admitted to being surprised by the cost of maintaining their homes."

"Perhaps because of all these things, more homeowners have decided to sell. A Harris Poll conducted for NerdWallet found just over 12.1 million homeowners — 16 percent of U.S. homeowners — plan to put their home on the market within the next 18 months."

"The reasons are varied, but some sellers point to a changing market. About 44 percent of those planning to sell point to recent shifts in the housing market that are prompting them to sell  sooner than initially planned. 'Homeowners can see that we’re moving away from a strong seller’s market in many areas. So their feelings and motivations are shifting, too,' said Holden Lewis, NerdWallet’s home expert."