SAN JOSE -- The real estate market in the United States has fallen victim to the continuous interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve (Fed), with Silicon Vally turning out to be the hardest-hit area where average housing prices plummeted by over 30 percent since the beginning of this year.

Insiders said the Fed's aggressive rate hikes began to impact the nationwide housing market starting in the first half of 2022.
Home sales have declined by 35 percent in the country this year, as the property prices in popular communities of the country fell by 10 to 20 percent in average.

For high-end workers in the global tech and innovation cluster known for their relatively greater purchasing power, they even began to feel hard to cover the payment for a new house.

Moreover, mass layoffs resulting from the sinking stocks and sluggish economy added to the weak demand for houses
"A lot of clients covered their down payment by selling stocks. So now as stocks drop, potential buyers therefore are not able to pay for the down payment, which has seriously impacted the purchasing power of those working for high-tech enterprises," said local realtor Liu Ruizi.