U.S. Home Sales Rise in September, Still Below Last Year

U.S. sales of previously owned homes posted a modest increase in September, yet remained below last year’s level as high mortgage rates and record home prices continued to discourage many would-be buyers.

Existing-home sales rose 1.5% from August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.99 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday. The monthly improvement was partly the result of a downward revision to August’s sales total.

Sales were still down 2.2% compared with September 2025. The latest figure narrowly topped the 3.98 million annual pace economists had projected, based on FactSet estimates.

The market for existing homes has hovered around a 4-million annual pace since 2023, far beneath the long-term average of about 5.2 million. September was the second month in a row that sales failed to reach that threshold.

Home prices continued to move higher nationwide. The September median sales price climbed 1.3% from a year earlier to $417,500, marking a record for the month in NAR data going back to 1999. Prices have now recorded year-over-year increases for 39 consecutive months.

“This is a very tough market out there, especially with mortgage rates rising,” Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist, said.

The housing market has been under pressure since 2022, when mortgage rates began rising from the unusually low levels seen during the pandemic. Sales of previously occupied homes were virtually flat last year, holding at their weakest point in roughly three decades.

Home purchases have remained slow this year as borrowing costs have climbed. Mortgage rates rose in the months after the U.S.-Iran war began in late February. Expectations of accelerating inflation, driven by sharply higher oil prices, pushed long-term bond yields upward. Those yields help guide the rates lenders charge on home loans.

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The average rate on a 30-year mortgage reached 7.4% last week, the highest level in nearly three years. Before the war began, the rate had briefly dipped below 6%.

That sharp rise can add hundreds of dollars to a borrower’s monthly housing bill, leading many potential buyers to put their home searches on hold.

For households able to absorb current mortgage rates—or buyers paying cash—the market has become somewhat more favorable. A larger selection of homes is available than in recent years because properties are taking longer to sell.

Although inventory remains below historical norms, about 1.6 million homes were listed without a buyer at the end of September. That was the highest amount of unsold housing stock since November 2019, according to the NAR.

Total unsold inventory increased 1.9% from August and stood 4.6% above the level recorded in September a year earlier, the trade group reported.

Based on September’s inventory and sales pace, the market had a 4.8-month supply of homes. Housing economists generally consider four to six months of supply a balanced environment in which buyers and sellers have relatively equal leverage.