U.S. Pending Home Sales Sink to a New Low
Would-be homebuyers are pulling back as mortgage rates remain in the mid-7% range.
What to know about the U.S. housing market for the four weeks ending October 18:
- Pending home sales fell. They declined 1.9% from a week earlier to the lowest level in records dating back to 2021. Weekly average mortgage rates are holding steady at 7.4%, pricing out many house hunters. For the second week in a row, pending sales declined in all 50 of the most populous U.S. metro areas.
- The typical monthly payment jumped to the the second-highest level on record. The median housing payment for a homebuyer is $2,796, as mortgage rates stay high. But the median home-sale price rose just 0.2% year over year, following two weeks of 0.1% increases, a sign that prices are losing steam.
- Fresh supply is falling. New listings declined 1.4% from a week earlier to the lowest level since July as homeowners take note of slow homebuying demand.
- Total inventory is still growing–but barely. The total number of homes for sale inched up 0.1% week over week; even though new listings are falling, the total number of homes for sale is holding up because buyers aren’t depleting the pool very quickly. There are hundreds of thousands more home sellers than buyers throughout the country, giving buyers the most negotiating power they’ve had in over a decade.
For Redfin economists’ takes on the housing market, please visit Redfin’s “From Our Economists” page.
Below is a summary of our most recent housing-market data. For more national and metro-level stats, please visit Redfin’s data center.
| U.S. highlights: Four weeks ending Oct. 18, 2026
Redfin’s national metrics include data from 900+ U.S. metro areas and are based on homes listed and/or sold during the period. Weekly housing-market data goes back through 2021. Subject to revision. |
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| Four weeks ending Oct. 18, 2026 | Year-over-year change | Week-over-week change (where applicable) | Notes | |
| Median sale price | $390,614 | 0.2% | ||
| Median asking price (seasonally adjusted) | $399,629 | 0.9% | ||
| Median monthly mortgage payment (seasonally adjusted) | $2,796 at a 7.4% mortgage rate | 10.4% | Second-highest level in our records | |
| Pending sales (seasonally adjusted) | 281,749 | -14.4% | -1.9% | Lowest level in our records |
| New listings (seasonally adjusted) | 354,412 | -2.7% | -1.4% | Biggest weekly decline in three months |
| Active listings (seasonally adjusted) | 1,507,161 | 2.1% | 0.1% | |
| Months of supply | 4.4 | Up from 4 | 4 to 5 months of supply is considered balanced | |
| Share of homes off market in two weeks | 28.3% | Down from 29% | ||
| Median days on market | 50 | 1 | ||
| Share of home listings with price drops | 21.7% | Up from 21% | ||
| Share of homes sold above list price | 23.3% | Up from 23.1% | ||
| Average sale-to-list price ratio | 98.4% | Up from 98.3% | ||
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Metro-level highlights: Four weeks ending Oct. 18, 2026 Redfin’s metro-level rankings data includes the 50 most populous U.S. metros. Select metros may be excluded from time to time to ensure data accuracy. |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Metros with biggest year-over-year increases | Metros with biggest year-over-year decreases |
Notes |
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| Median sale price | San Francisco (12.9%)
New Brunswick, NJ (6.9%) Detroit (6.9%) Pittsburgh (6.9%) Cleveland (5.7%) |
Seattle (-6.2%)
San Jose, CA (-4.7%) Austin, TX (-2.8%) Charlotte, NC (-2.8%) |
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| Pending sales | Seattle (-28.8%)
San Diego (-25.4%) Atlanta (-23.8%) Denver (-21%) Las Vegas (-20.6%) |
Declined in every metro we analyzed for the second week in a row | |
| New listings | Nashville, TN (18.7%)
San Jose, CA (17.7%) Newark, NJ (11.8%) San Francisco (11.7%) Boston (10.2%) |
Atlanta (-24.2%)
San Antonio (-17.4%) Dallas (-11.1%) Fort Worth, TX (-9.5%) Las Vegas (-8.4%) |
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Refer to our metrics definition page for explanations of all the metrics used in this report.
The post U.S. Pending Home Sales Sink to a New Low appeared first on Redfin Real Estate News.
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