John Matheson, a house inspector in Alameda, Calif., saved busy in the course of the pandemic when the housing market was crimson scorching. However as rates of interest began to rise about midway by way of 2022, he seen that his workload started to drop. Final 12 months, the variety of jobs plummeted.

“My enterprise is about 50 p.c of what it was,” mentioned Mr. Matheson, who works as a contractor for BPG Inspections, which gives providers to residence patrons throughout the nation. “So far as I’m involved, it’s a extremely dangerous 12 months.”

So dangerous, in truth, that “I’m really occupied with aspect hustles,” he mentioned, including that he’s learning to obtain a industrial captain’s license within the hope of getting a job working a ferry or one other vessel if the housing market doesn’t rebound.

Excessive residence costs and elevated mortgage charges, which squeezed the housing market final 12 months, have dragged down various different associated sectors, like actual property providers and mortgage lending. However housing is such an important cog within the American economic system that its slowdown has additionally threatened industries like residence enchancment and storage.

“Current residence gross sales are beneath a lot strain,” mentioned Sean O’Hara, president of the fund-management agency Pacer ETFs. “We’re type of exiting a section the place actual property, throughout the board, had a wonderful atmosphere.”

Sales of existing homes, which make up many of the nation’s housing inventory, have been down roughly 7 p.c in November from a 12 months earlier, based on the Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors.

Federal Reserve policymakers held rates of interest regular at their assembly in December and signaled that the central financial institution would start chopping rates of interest in 2024, providing hope to the residential market, which is extra delicate to interest-rate adjustments.

The components that saved folks from shopping for a house in 2023 have been myriad, together with hovering costs. The median price of an existing single-family home was $392,100 in November, based on the Federal Reserve Financial institution of St. Louis, making residence shopping for unaffordable for a big swath of the inhabitants, whilst mortgage charges have dipped under 7 p.c.

Would-be patrons are additionally dealing with a scarcity of homes available on the market. Some owners don’t need to promote their houses and forfeit the low mortgage charges they landed just some years in the past. About 4 out of 5 owners with mortgages have a charge decrease than 5 p.c, and a couple of quarter have a charge decrease than 3 p.c, based on a research carried out by the net brokerage Redfin. Even child boomers who would possibly think about downsizing are discovering that it may not be cost-effective to take out a brand new mortgage with charges at their present ranges.

The contagion from the slowdown within the housing market final 12 months has been wide-ranging.

Professionals like actual property brokers and mortgage suppliers are essentially the most seen collateral injury, however different service suppliers — equivalent to title insurance coverage corporations, escrow corporations, residence appraisers and inspectors — are additionally seeing enterprise dry up. Different once-hot markets are seeing the same shift.

“Our greatest 12 months within the enterprise was 2021, on the peak of Covid,” mentioned Scott Patterson, proprietor of Hint Inspections, which gives residence inspections within the Nashville space. “Then rates of interest began going up, and other people simply stopped shopping for houses except they actually wanted to.”

Mr. Patterson mentioned a mix of low stock and excessive mortgage charges was slowing the variety of residence purchases, significantly amongst first-time patrons.

“People which have been affected essentially the most are folks shopping for starter houses,” he mentioned. “Rates of interest are actually hurting them. They’re those we’re not seeing as a lot.”

Firms concerned in shifting and storing folks’s belongings are additionally dealing with a slowdown that executives attribute to slumping residence gross sales. In a name with analysts in August, Edward J. Shoen, president and chief govt of U-Haul, blamed a contraction in shifting exercise for a decline in the company’s first-quarter revenue.

Demand for storage models boomed in the course of the pandemic as folks spent extra time at residence or took benefit of decrease mortgage charges by shopping for a house. Builders capitalized on this, with investor funds fueling the development of latest storage amenities across the nation.

“What you had within the pandemic and postpandemic was simply an abundance of provide,” mentioned Michael Elliott, an fairness analyst at CFRA Analysis.

As pandemic-era consumption patterns have waned, some corporations have struggled. In September, analysts at Morgan Stanley minimize their goal value of Further Area Storage, and a Wells Fargo analyst printed a analysis be aware warning about general softness within the sector.

Storage companies are having to decide on between shoring up occupancy by chopping charges or rising them to generate extra income — on the threat of getting prospects defect to opponents.

Householders transformed and redesigned in the course of the pandemic, snapping up new recliners, fridges and wide-screen TVs. Now, retailers face a difficult gross sales atmosphere.

Demand for furnishings, home equipment and residential electronics has fallen, based on a Financial institution of America evaluation carried out in 2022. Fewer folks shopping for houses has meant decrease demand for big-ticket gadgets like sofas and residential stereo programs, mentioned R.J. Hottovy, head of analytical analysis on the analytics agency Placer.ai.

So many individuals purchased residence furnishings in the course of the pandemic years that these purchases supplanted people who would possibly in any other case be happening now, miserable demand additional. As of the start of September, Placer.ai discovered, visits to home-goods retailers have been down roughly 15 p.c from a 12 months earlier, and visits to electronics shops have been down 12 p.c.

Youthful adults are a giant potential supply of demand for these sorts of products, consultants say, on condition that they’d usually be in search of to purchase a house to start out a household.

“I feel a whole lot of millennials, particularly, need to transfer, to have a bigger residence,” mentioned Timothy S. Chubb, chief funding officer on the wealth administration agency Girard. “It’s been comparatively unattainable to take action, given a scarcity of stock on the market.”

That’s translating right into a decline in spending on sturdy items, he mentioned.

House-improvement retailers face related challenges. “Something related to shifting will not be taking place, and that’s lots,” mentioned Scott Mushkin, the founder and managing associate of R5 Capital, a consulting and analysis agency.

Executives at House Depot instructed traders on a third-quarter earnings call in November that People have been shopping for fewer big-ticket gadgets. Lowe’s reported lower spending on do-it-yourself initiatives in the identical quarter. House-improvement retailers usually profit when people who find themselves unable to purchase a brand new residence determine as a substitute to renovate their present residence. However customers had much less urge for food for giant renovations in 2023 as a result of increased rates of interest raised the price of borrowing.

Though the sharp improve in residence values has given owners extra fairness on paper, having access to it has change into costlier.

“With the housing market the place it’s, persons are not in a position to transfer,” mentioned Mr. Elliott, the CFRA Analysis analyst. “That’s going to have an effect on demand.”