"Higher for longer" can go fuck themselves. The market will remain dead as long as the forces of affordability remain high, relative to income: high price plus high cost of capital.
The Median Multiple between 1990-2002 plateaued at a level between 3.5x-4.0x, where 3.0 and under is considered affordable, and 3.1 to 4.0 is mildly unaffordable. Today, that figure is trending close to 6.0 or worse in many markets.
Inventory in many markets has returned to 4 month averages, with 1/4 of the top 200 DMAs now returning to 2019-era inventories, and the NAR is marking down 2024 as its worst year in sales volume since 2008:
Homebuilders are fucked too-- they've posted more new, unsold inventory than any time since 2009. They're running out of land near our largest employment centers at a time when enterprise executives and political incumbents are enforcing RTO policies, most of which seem to be leveraged RIF functions and do not offer relocation expense.
I don't know how this trainwreck ends, but price, the US10Y, and wages seem to be immovable objects, and the average homebuyer is already broke and can't afford another dollar in their monthly coupon or rent check.