Existing-home sales fell 2.0 percent in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.98 million, the National Association of Realtors reported on Sept. 10. That was 1.2 percent below August 2025 and the first reading under 4 million since June 2025.
Homes for sale piled up as the pace slowed. NAR counted 1.62 million homes on the market at the end of August, up 3.2 percent from July and 5.9 percent from a year earlier, the first time inventory topped 1.6 million since November 2019. At the August sales pace, that supply would last 4.9 months, up from 4.6 months both in July and a year earlier.
NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun called the 4.9 months the highest supply in more than ten years. “The ample supply of homes for sale on the market is giving homebuyers better opportunities to negotiate,” he said in the release.
Thirteen months of sales
The annual sales pace has stayed inside a narrow band for more than a year, between 3.98 million and 4.27 million. August’s figure is the low end of that band.
Existing-home sales, seasonally adjusted annual rate, millions
Prices kept rising through the slowdown. The median existing-home price of $429,100 was 1.6 percent above August 2025’s $422,400, NAR’s 38th straight month of annual gains. The single-family median was $434,800, up 1.7 percent. Yun pointed out that sales were still up 1.6 percent for the first eight months of the year.
Region by region
Sales fell from July in three of the four regions and held steady in the West. Against a year earlier, the South was unchanged and the other three regions declined.
| Region | Annual sales rate | Change from July | Change from a year earlier | Median price | Price change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northeast | 480,000 | Down 4.0% | Down 2.0% | $556,900 | Up 4.3% |
| Midwest | 940,000 | Down 3.1% | Down 2.1% | $340,400 | Up 3.3% |
| South | 1.84 million | Down 1.6% | Unchanged | $366,500 | Up 0.7% |
| West | 720,000 | Unchanged | Down 2.7% | $619,100 | Down 0.2% |
Source, NAR Existing-Home Sales, August 2026, released Sept. 10, 2026.
The regions where prices rose fastest are the ones with the fewest homes for sale. Realtor.com’s September count put active listings in the Northeast 42.6 percent and in the Midwest 29.2 percent below typical pre-pandemic levels, while the South had 8.9 percent more. The West, the one region where NAR’s median slipped, also posted the steepest annual drop in sales.
See what a private, off-market sale of your home would look like →
What contracts say about the fall
August’s closings mostly reflect contracts signed in June and July. NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index, which counts contracts when they are signed, rose 0.3 percent in August from July and was 4.7 percent below August 2025, according to NAR’s Sept. 17 release. Contracts rose from July in the South, by 2.3 percent, and the West, by 3.0 percent, and fell in the Northeast, by 4.2 percent, and the Midwest, by 1.6 percent. All four regions were below a year earlier.
“Nationally, contract signings today are running roughly 30% below where they were in the years leading up to the pandemic,” Yun said.
September looks weaker. Freddie Mac’s 30-year rate averaged 6.67 percent in August, NAR noted, and reached 7.28 percent in the week of Oct. 1. Realtor.com’s September report found the number of listings in pending status down 4.1 percent from a year earlier, after a 0.2 percent decline in August, the steepest annual drop since March 2025. NAR publishes September’s closed sales on Oct. 13 and September’s pending sales on Oct. 20.
What it means for a seller
More supply means more competition for each buyer, and NAR’s survey of its members shows the buyers who remain. In August, 30 percent of sales went to first-time buyers, 27 percent were all-cash, 15 percent went to individual investors or second-home buyers, and 2 percent were foreclosures or short sales. The median home sold in 31 days, the same as a year earlier.
For an owner deciding when to sell, the national numbers describe the backdrop, not the house. Supply and time on market vary by price range and neighborhood, and the figures that matter most are local ones, how many similar homes are listed nearby, how long they take to go under contract and how often their prices are cut. Our Seller’s Desk brief on timing covers how to read them, and the brief on listings that stall covers what to do when a house sits.
Sources
- National Association of Realtors, NAR Existing-Home Sales Report Shows 2.0% Decrease in August, Sept. 10, 2026
- National Association of Realtors, NAR Pending Home Sales Report Shows 0.3% Increase in August, Sept. 17, 2026
- National Association of Realtors, Existing-home sales release schedule, accessed Oct. 5, 2026
- Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Existing Home Sales, series EXHOSLUSM495S, retrieved Oct. 5, 2026
- Realtor.com, September 2026 Monthly Housing Trends, Sept. 30, 2026
- Freddie Mac, Primary Mortgage Market Survey, Oct. 1, 2026
