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As America's largest home improvement retailer, a warning from Home Depot carries weight far beyond the hardware aisle. When people stop buying and selling homes, the effects can spread to renovations, construction and the finances of households counting on their home's value.

Now, the company's CFO, Richard McPhail, has a stark description of the housing market.

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"We continue to operate in what I call 'frozen housing market conditions,'" McPhail told CNBC (1).

On Home Depot's earnings call, McPhail identified the troubling measure behind that description: housing turnover.

"Housing turnover… has been at historical lows. It has never been lower as a percentage of the housing stock," he said (2).

What makes that low especially troubling is how long housing turnover has remained there.

"Every time we've seen it hit the sort of 3% of the housing stock changing hands, over history, it's always bounced up relatively quickly. We've seen housing turnover at these low levels for four years now," he added.

A Redfin analysis (3) shows how deep the freeze has become. Only 2.8% of U.S. homes changed hands during the first nine months of 2025, the lowest turnover rate in at least 30 years.

For homeowners who locked in much lower mortgage rates, selling can mean taking on a far more expensive loan for their next place. Buyers face high prices and borrowing costs of their own. Then-Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell pointed to that lock-in effect back in September 2024, calling (4) the market "in part frozen."

More than two years later, Home Depot is still waiting for it to thaw.

The pressure is already visible in the retailer's business. Customers continued buying supplies for smaller repairs and maintenance in its latest quarter, but larger discretionary projects remained under pressure. McPhail said businesses connected with housing face "tremendous pressure."

A prolonged freeze can leave homeowners with a painful problem: a substantial part of their net worth may be tied up in a property they do not want to sell — or cannot sell on terms they like. And when fewer people move or undertake major projects, the strain can spread to the companies and workers that depend on that spending.

If much of your net worth is tied to your home — or you're counting on a strong housing market to support your retirement — a prolonged freeze could leave you more exposed than you realize. Here are three ways to access your equity, seek income and diversify your nest egg while the market remains stuck.

If you've built up substantial equity in your home, a frozen market can leave you with a frustrating choice: sell into an uncertain market to access that wealth, or leave it tied up in the property.

A home equity line of credit, or HELOC, offers another option. It's a revolving line of credit that leverages the equity in your home as collateral, so that you can borrow and repay funds as needed — similar to a credit card.

AmeriSave offers a flexible HELOC that lets homeowners borrow against their equity as needed during a draw period, making it useful for renovations or debt consolidation. The application is mostly online and available in most states.

It's a good fit for borrowers who want convenience and flexibility rather than a large lump-sum loan up-front. You can draw funds only when you need them, so it's useful for ongoing or unpredictable costs. Interest is charged only on what you use, and you repay the balance over time. It's essentially a flexible credit line secured by your home, delivered through a mostly online application process.

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A frozen market does not erase what makes real estate attractive to many investors: a property can generate rent month after month, even when homes are changing hands less often. That income offers another way to build wealth alongside any long-term increase in the property's value.

But the same forces keeping homebuyers on the sidelines can make purchasing a rental property difficult. High prices require a larger down payment, while elevated borrowing costs can cause mortgage payments to consume a larger share of the rent you collect. And being a landlord isn't exactly hands-off work — managing tenants, maintenance and repairs can quickly eat into your time (and returns).

The good news? You don't need to buy a property outright — or deal with leaky faucets — to invest in real estate today. Crowdfunding platforms like Arrived offer an easier way to get exposure to this income-generating asset class.

Backed by world-class investors like Jeff Bezos, Arrived allows you to invest in shares of rental homes with as little as $100, all without the hassle of mowing lawns, fixing leaky faucets or handling difficult tenants.

The process is simple: Browse a curated selection of homes that have been vetted for their appreciation and income potential. Once you find a property you like, select the number of shares you'd like to purchase and then sit back as you start receiving any positive rental income distributions from your investment.

Another option is Lightstone DIRECT, which gives accredited investors access to single-asset multifamily and industrial deals.

Lightstone DIRECT's direct-to-investor model ensures a high degree of alignment between individual investors and a vertically-integrated, institutional owner-operator — a sophisticated and streamlined option for individual investors looking to diversify into private-market real estate.

With Lightstone DIRECT, accredited individuals can access the same multifamily and industrial assets Lightstone pursues with its own capital, with minimum investments starting at $100,000.

A home can be a family's largest asset, and rental properties can still produce income when sales are slow. But if much of your wealth is tied to real estate, it may be worth holding assets whose value is driven by different forces.

That's where gold can enter the picture.

Long seen as the ultimate safe haven, gold isn't tied to any single country, currency or economy. It can't be created at will by central banks like fiat money, and in times of economic turmoil, market turbulence or geopolitical uncertainty, investors tend to pile in — driving up its value.

Ray Dalio, founder of the world's largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, has repeatedly emphasized gold's role in building a resilient portfolio.

"People don't have, typically, an adequate amount of gold in their portfolio," he told CNBC last year. "When bad times come, gold is a very effective diversifier."

The market has already taken notice. Over the past five years, as inflation continued to erode the value of paper currency and investors looked for protection outside traditional assets, gold has climbed 147%.

Other prominent voices see further potential. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has said that in this environment, gold can "easily" rise to $10,000 an ounce.

You can combine the recession-resistant properties of the precious metal with the tax advantages of an IRA by opening a gold IRA with the help of Newport Gold.

Even better, you can get free setup, shipping and storage for up to three years with Newport Gold's Liberty bundle to minimize some of those upfront costs. Plus, you can roll over an existing IRA or 401(k) into a precious metals IRA completely tax- and penalty-free.

Newport Gold also offers a streamlined buyback program with no fees, ensuring you can liquidate your holdings whenever needed, along with best-price assurance.

If you want to read more about their services, you can download their gold guide for free and get up to $20,000 in complimentary silver upon making a qualifying purchase.

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CNBC (1); Home Depot (2); Redfin (3); U.S. Federal Reserve (4)

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.