U.S. home sales fell to their lowest level in nearly two years in July, dragged down by steep declines in Texas and Seattle even as several other metros posted double-digit sales growth, according to a Redfin report published Wednesday.
Overall home sales dropped 4.1% from June on a seasonally adjusted basis and were down 0.6% from a year earlier, marking the slowest pace in nearly two years. Pending home sales β a leading indicator of closed sales β fell 2.5% month over month to 335,051, their lowest level since December, though they were down just 0.7% from July 2025.
The slowdown came even as the median home-sale price climbed to $407,730, up 3.2% from a year earlier and the highest for any July on record. The average 30-year mortgage rate rose to 6.54% during the month, a one-year high.
Texas and Seattle lead the decline
Texas metros posted some of the steepest year-over-year drops in home sales nationally: San Antonio fell 12.6%, Dallas fell 10% and Fort Worth fell 9.9%. Seattle’s pending sales fell even further, down 15.6% from a year earlier, even as its median home price of $809,479 remained roughly double the national figure.
“Record-high home prices, increasing mortgage rates and growing financial insecurity drove market slump,” Redfin economist Chen Zhao said, pointing to buyers who are increasingly concerned about the broader economy and their own job security.
In Seattle specifically, Redfin agent Chase Costello linked the pullback to the local tech labor market. “Tech workers aren’t moving between companies β or moving into the area β as much,” Costello said, describing a cautious posture among prospective buyers tied to the region’s largest employers.
Not every metro moved in the same direction. West Palm Beach, Fla., posted a 17.1% increase in home sales, while San Francisco rose 8.5% and Milwaukee climbed 7%, underscoring how uneven the national slowdown has become market by market.
Inventory holds roughly flat
New listings dipped to their lowest level since October 2024, down 0.1% from June, while total active listings fell 0.3% to 1,462,921 homes nationwide. The median home stayed on the market for 49 days, unchanged from the prior month β a sign that while fewer buyers are transacting, the properties that are listed aren’t necessarily sitting significantly longer than before.
What it means
Verified facts: National home sales and pending sales both declined in July on a seasonally adjusted, month-over-month basis, reaching multi-year or multi-month lows even as prices hit a record for the month. Texas metros and Seattle posted the steepest year-over-year sales declines among major markets tracked by Redfin, while several other metros posted sales growth.
Attributed interpretation: Redfin’s Zhao attributes the broader slowdown to the combination of record prices, rising rates and buyer anxiety about the economy; Redfin’s Costello attributes Seattle’s steeper decline specifically to reduced hiring and job mobility among the region’s tech employers.
RealtyWire analysis: The divergence between Texas and Seattle’s declines and West Palm Beach and San Francisco’s gains suggests the current slowdown is less a uniform national retreat than a redistribution of demand β buyers pulling back hardest in markets most exposed to layoffs and overbuilt supply, while pockets of relative economic stability keep attracting activity. That pattern echoes RealtyWire’s coverage of Redfin’s weekly data earlier this month, which found Seattle among the sharpest pending-sales decliners even as other metros posted gains.
What to watch
Wednesday’s cooler-than-feared July inflation report could ease some upward pressure on mortgage rates in the coming weeks, a dynamic that would matter most for rate-sensitive markets like Seattle and the Texas metros posting the steepest declines. Redfin’s next monthly housing data release is expected in early September.
