Active inventory: The number of homes listed for sale in an area right now. Compare it to a year ago and to 2019 to judge whether supply favors buyers or sellers. When it falls below the same point a year ago, supply is tightening, which supports prices.

New listings: Homes freshly put up for sale each week. This measures the supply entering the market, while active inventory measures what has piled up.

Delisting: A home withdrawn from the market without selling. A surge in delistings shrinks supply and signals sellers would rather wait than cut.

Days on market (DOM): How long a listing sits before going under contract. Rising DOM signals buyer leverage, falling DOM signals a seller's market.

Months of supply (MOS): How long it would take to sell every home currently listed at the current pace of sales. Roughly 5 to 6 months is balanced. Below that leans toward sellers, and 6 or more leans toward buyers.

Balanced market: Roughly equal supply and demand, usually around six months of inventory, where neither side holds a strong edge.

Buyer's vs. seller's market: A buyer's market has more supply than demand, which gives you room to negotiate. A seller's market has the reverse, so you price at reality and move fast.

Pending home sales: Homes under contract but not yet closed. It is the most forward-looking demand signal, showing what buyers are doing right now.

Year-over-year (YoY) comp: Comparing this week or month to the exact same period last year. It strips out normal seasonal swings so you can see the real trend.

Median list price vs. median sold price: List is what sellers are asking across active listings. Sold is what buyers actually paid on closed deals. They can move in opposite directions, because list reacts to today's seller mood while sold reflects deals struck weeks ago.

Price cut (price reduction) share: The percentage of active listings that have lowered their asking price at least once. A falling share means more sellers are pricing right the first time, not that the market is firming.

List-to-sold ratio: Sold price divided by final list price, usually shown as a percentage. Under 100% means homes are closing below ask, so there is room to negotiate. At or above 100% means they are closing at or over ask, so price at reality.

Price discovery: The process of a market finding the price a buyer will actually pay. It can happen after listing, through visible cuts, or before listing, through a lower opening price.

Federal funds rate: The Fed's benchmark short-term rate. It does not set mortgage rates directly, but it shapes the direction they drift.

Dot plot: The Fed's quarterly chart of where each official expects rates to go. When the median dot rises, the Fed is signaling higher rates ahead.

Higher for longer: Shorthand for a Fed that holds rates elevated instead of cutting.

Bond market (10-year Treasury yield): The market whose rates mortgage rates track most closely. When investors expect a slower economy, those yields fall and pull mortgage rates down with them.

Nonfarm payrolls: The monthly count of jobs added or lost across the economy, minus farm work. The single most-watched read on labor-market health.

Labor-force participation rate: The share of working-age people either working or looking for work. When it falls, a lower unemployment rate can hide weakness rather than show strength.

Real wage growth: How fast incomes are rising after inflation. When wages outpace home prices, affordability improves even if prices do not fall, which puts a floor under demand.

DSCR (debt-service coverage ratio): A property's monthly rent divided by its monthly loan-and-housing payment. A 1.25 means rent covers the payment 1.25 times over. Higher is better.

LTV (loan-to-value): The share of the price you are borrowing. 80% LTV means 20% down. 75% LTV means 25% down.

Conventional vs. DSCR loan: A conventional investment loan verifies your income through pay stubs and tax returns. A DSCR loan skips income verification and qualifies the property instead, on its rent versus its payment, which helps if your income is complex. Either way the lender still checks your credit, and a DSCR loan is usually a touch pricier.

Reserves: Liquid cash a lender requires you to keep after closing, typically six months of the full housing payment, though some accept three.

PITI: Principal, interest, taxes, and insurance. The full monthly housing payment, and the denominator in your DSCR calculation.

P&I: Just the principal-and-interest portion of that payment. A rate buydown lowers this. A price cut barely does.

Rate-and-term refinance: Replacing your current loan with a new one at a different rate. Useful only if a lower rate actually exists when you need it.

Seller credit: Money the seller agrees to put toward your closing costs at settlement. It does not lower the purchase price, and you choose how to use it.

Rate buydown (discount points): Paying money upfront to permanently lower your interest rate. One point costs 1% of the loan and typically lowers the rate by roughly a quarter percent.

Payback period: How long it takes for your monthly savings to add up to the upfront cost. Credit amount divided by monthly savings equals months to break even.

ARV (after-repair value): What the property should sell for once the work is finished. Hard money lenders size your loan off this number, usually capping at 70% to 75% of it.

Points (origination): An upfront fee charged as a percentage of the loan. One point equals 1% of the loan amount, paid at closing, whether the flip works or not.

Draw schedule: The process by which rehab money is released. You typically pay for the work first, then request an inspection, then get reimbursed. It means you need cash on hand even on a fully funded rehab.

Gross profit vs. net profit: Gross profit is resale price minus purchase price. Net profit subtracts rehab, financing, holding, and selling costs. Industry headlines usually report gross.

Extension fee: What a lender charges to push your maturity date when the project runs long. Often one additional point, charged exactly when the deal can least afford it.

Carrying cost: What it costs to keep owning an unsold property, including loan interest, taxes, insurance, and utilities. The higher it is, the more motivated the seller.

Spec home: A house a builder constructs without a buyer lined up. Once finished, it costs the builder interest every month it sits unsold, which is why builders negotiate when private sellers will not.

Vacancy allowance: The share of rent you subtract in your underwriting to account for units sitting empty between tenants, usually 5 to 8 percent.

Concessions: Incentives a landlord offers to fill a unit, most commonly a month of free rent. In a softening rental market, concessions and vacancy move before headline rent does, so they are an early warning.

Effective rent: What you actually collect after concessions, not the advertised number. Multiply the face rent by the lease months, subtract the concessions, then divide by the lease months. A $2,000 unit with one month free on a 12-month lease has an effective rent of $1,833, an 8.3% haircut before vacancy or repairs.