Washington, D.C., Nov. 12, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Existing-home sales decreased by 5.5% month-over-month and decreased by 8.8% year-over-year, according to the National Association of REALTORS® Existing-Home Sales report. The report provides the real estate ecosystem—including agents, homebuyers and sellers—with data on the level of home sales, price, and inventory.

Month-over-month sales declined in the Midwest, South and West and held steady in the Northeast. Year-over-year sales declined in all four regions.

“Home buying is difficult when mortgage rates have climbed to their highest levels since 2000, aside from a single month in 2023. As a result, home sales fell to their lowest level since August 2010,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun.

“Despite fewer transactions in October, the 88 million homeowners across the country are largely in a comfortable financial position due to sizable housing wealth accumulation. The number of distressed property sales remains historically low at only 2% of all transactions,” Yun said. “Based on the current underwhelming home sales pace at a time of consistent job growth, there could be sizable pent-up demand if mortgage rates decline.”

National Snapshot

Total Existing-Home Sales for October

  • 5.5% decrease in existing-home sales¹ month-over-month.
  • 8.8% decrease in existing-home sales year-over-year to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.75 million.

Inventory in October

  • 1.59 million units: Total housing inventory², up 1.3% from September and up 4.6% from October 2025.
  • 5.1-month supply of unsold inventory, up from 4.7 months in September and up from 4.4 months in October 2025.

Median Sales Price in October

  • $416,700: Median existing-home price³ for all housing types
  • 0.4% increase from one year ago ($414,900)—the 40th consecutive month of year-over-year price increases.

Housing Affordability in October

  • The Housing Affordability Index registered at 100.7, down from 107.3 a year ago.
  • Year-over-year, affordability declined in all four regions.
    • Northeast -8.7%
    • Midwest -7.2%
    • South -5.4%
    • West -5.2%

Single-Family and Condo/Co-op Sales

Single-Family Homes in October

  • 5.8% decrease in sales month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.41 million, down 8.6% from October 2025.
  • $421,900: Median home price, up 0.4% from last year.

Condominiums and Co-ops in October

  • 2.9% decrease in sales month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 340,000
    • Down 10.5% from last year.
  • $365,100: Median price, up 0.3% from October 2025.

Regional Snapshot for Existing-Home Sales in October

Northeast

  • Unchanged in sales month-over-month at an annual rate of 470,000
    • Down 4.1% from October 2025
  • $519,600: Median price, up 3.2% from October 2025

Midwest

  • 3.2% decrease in sales month-over-month to an annual rate of 900,000
    • Down 8.2% year-over-year
  • $324,300: Median price, up 1.5% from October 2025

South

  • 6.5% decrease in sales month-over-month to an annual rate of 1.73 million
    • Down 8.0% from October 2025
  • $360,900: Median price, down 0.4% from October 2025

West

  • 9.7% decrease in sales month-over-month to an annual rate of 650,000
    • Down 14.5% year-over-year
  • $624,300: Median price, unchanged from October 2025

REALTORS® Confidence Index for October

  • 35 days: Median time on market for properties, up from 33 days last month
    • Up from 34 days in October 2025
  • 29% of sales were first-time homebuyers, down from 31% in September
    • Down from 32% one year ago
  • 29% of transactions were cash sales, up from 27% last month
    • Unchanged from 29% in October 2025
  • 20% of transactions were individual investors or second-home buyers, unchanged from last month
    • Up from 16% one year ago
  • 2% of sales were distressed sales⁴ (foreclosures and short sales), unchanged from last month
    • Unchanged from 2% one year ago

Mortgage Rates

  • 7.33%: The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage in October, according to Freddie Mac, up from 6.86% in September and up from 6.25% one year ago.

About the National Association of REALTORS®
The National Association of REALTORS® is involved in all aspects of residential and commercial real estate. The term REALTOR® is a registered collective membership mark that identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS® and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics. For free consumer guides about navigating the homebuying and selling transaction processes—from written buyer agreements to negotiating compensation—visit facts.realtor.

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Information about NAR is available at nar.realtor. This and other news releases are posted in the newsroom at nar.realtor/newsroom. Statistical data in this release, as well as other tables and surveys, are posted in the “Research and Statistics” tab.

[1] Existing-home sales, which include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, are based on transaction closings from Multiple Listing Services. Changes in sales trends outside of MLSs are not captured in the monthly series. NAR benchmarks home sales periodically using other sources to assess overall home sales trends, including sales not reported by MLSs.
Existing-home sales, based on closings, differ from the U.S. Census Bureau’s series on new single-family home sales, which are based on contracts or the acceptance of a deposit. Because of these differences, it is not uncommon for each series to move in different directions in the same month. In addition, existing-home sales, which account for more than 90% of total home sales, are based on a much larger data sample – about 40% of multiple listing service data each month – and typically are not subject to large prior-month revisions.
The annual rate for a particular month represents what the total number of actual sales for a year would be if the relative pace for that month were maintained for 12 consecutive months. Seasonally adjusted annual rates are used in reporting monthly data to factor out seasonal variations in resale activity. For example, home sales volume is normally higher in the summer than in the winter, primarily because of differences in the weather and family buying patterns. However, seasonal factors cannot compensate for abnormal weather patterns.
Single-family data collection began monthly in 1968, while condo data collection began quarterly in 1981; the series were combined in 1999 when monthly collection of condo data began. Prior to this period, single-family homes accounted for more than nine out of 10 purchases. Historic comparisons for total home sales prior to 1999 are based on monthly single-family sales, combined with the corresponding quarterly sales rate for condos.

2 Total inventory and month’s supply data are available back through 1999, while single-family inventory and month’s supply are available back to 1982 (prior to 1999, single-family sales accounted for more than 90% of transactions and condos were measured only on a quarterly basis).

3 The median price is where half sold for more and half sold for less; medians are more typical of market conditions than average prices, which are skewed higher by a relatively small share of upper-end transactions. The only valid comparisons for median prices are with the same period a year earlier due to seasonality in buying patterns. Month-to-month comparisons do not compensate for seasonal changes, especially for the timing of family buying patterns. Changes in the composition of sales can distort median price data. Year-ago median and mean prices sometimes are revised in an automated process if additional data is received.
The national median condo/co-op price often is higher than the median single-family home price because condos are concentrated in higher-cost housing markets. However, in a given area, single-family homes typically sell for more than condos as seen in NAR’s quarterly metro area price reports.

4 Distressed sales (foreclosures and short sales), days on market, first-time buyers, all-cash transactions and investors are from a monthly survey for the NAR’s REALTORS® Confidence Index, posted at nar.realtor.


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