US Existing Home Sales Ease in August

Existing home sales in the United States rose by 1.7% from the previous month to an annualized rate of 4.09 million in February of 2026, ahead of market expectations that they would fall to 3.89 million. Despite the rebound, unsold inventory rose by a sharper 2.4% to a total of 1.29 million, which is equivalent to 3.8 months of supply at the latest sales rate. Sales price of existing homes inched higher by 0.3% from the previous year to $398,000, despite the drop in mortgage rates since the period. “Housing affordability is improving, and consumers are responding,” said NAR Chief Economist Dr. Lawrence Yun. “Still, there is a long way to go to return to pre-pandemic levels of transaction activity. There are more than 6 million more jobs than in 2019, yet home sales per year are down by one million. Despite the modest gain in home sales, actual housing demand remains muted relative to wage growth and job gains.”

Existing home sales in the United States sank by 8.4% from the previous month to an annualized rate of 3.91 million in January of 2026, firmly below market expectations of 4.18 million, after having reached a 3-year high of 4.35 million in the last month of 2025. It was the sharpest drop in nearly 4 years to the lowest level since September 2024. Unsold inventory fell by 0.8% to 1.22 million units, equal to 3.7 months of supply. "The below-normal temperatures and above-normal precipitation this January make it harder than usual to assess the underlying driver of the decrease and determine if this month’s numbers are an aberration,” said NAR Chief Economist Dr. Lawrence Yun. “Affordability conditions are improving, with NAR’s Housing Affordability Index showing that housing is the most affordable it’s been since March 2022. This is due to wage gains outpacing home price growth and mortgage rates being lower than a year ago. However, supply has not kept pace and remains quite low."

Existing home sales in the United States surged by 5.1% from the previous month to an annualized rate of 4.35 million in December of 2025, firmly above market expectations of the sharpest increase in nearly two years to the highest level in nearly three years. The drop drove inventory to plunge by 18.1% from the previous month to 1,180,000, equivalent to 3.3 months of supply at the current sales rate. The median price of existing home sales eased further to $405,400 in the period, a 0.4% increase from the previous year. According to NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun, “2025 was another tough year for homebuyers, marked by record-high home prices and historically low home sales. However, in the fourth quarter, conditions began improving, with lower mortgage rates and slower home price growth. The gains were broad-based, with all four major regions improving from the prior month.”