Sales of previously owned U.S. homes fell 5.5% in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.75 million, the slowest pace since August 2010, the National Association of Realtors reported Nov. 12. Sales were down 8.8% from October 2025, and they fell from a year earlier in all four regions of the country.
NAR tied the drop directly to borrowing costs. “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. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 7.33% in October, according to Freddie Mac figures cited in the release, up from 6.86% in September and 6.25% a year earlier.
October existing-home sales by the numbers
- Sales: 3.75 million annual rate, down 5.5% from September and 8.8% from a year earlier.
- Median price: $416,700, up 0.4% from $414,900 a year earlier, the 40th consecutive month of annual gains.
- Inventory: 1.59 million homes for sale, up 1.3% from September and 4.6% from a year earlier.
- Months’ supply: 5.1, up from 4.7 in September and 4.4 a year earlier.
- Time on market: a median of 35 days, up from 33 in September and 34 a year earlier.
Single-family sales fell 5.8% for the month to a 3.41 million pace and were 8.6% lower than a year earlier, with a median price of $421,900. Condo and co-op sales slipped 2.9% to a 340,000 pace, down 10.5% from a year earlier, at a median of $365,100.
The West falls hardest; the Northeast holds
The regional numbers show a sharp split. Sales in the West dropped 9.7% from September to a 650,000 pace and were down 14.5% from October 2025, the steepest annual decline of any region. The West’s median price, $624,300, was unchanged from a year earlier.
The South, the largest region by volume, fell 6.5% for the month to 1.73 million and was the only region where the median price declined, slipping 0.4% to $360,900. Midwest sales fell 3.2% to 900,000, with the median up 1.5% to $324,300.
The Northeast was the exception. Sales there were unchanged from September at a 470,000 pace, down 4.1% from a year earlier, and the region’s median price rose 3.2% to $519,600, the strongest gain in the country. That matches what Redfin found in a separate analysis released the same day: the only three seller’s markets among the 50 biggest metros are all in the New York and Philadelphia suburbs.
Fewer first-time buyers, more cash
NAR’s monthly Realtors Confidence Index survey shows who is still buying. First-time buyers made up 29% of sales in October, down from 31% in September and 32% a year earlier. Cash purchases rose to 29% of transactions from 27% in September. Individual investors and second-home buyers accounted for 20%, unchanged from September but up from 16% a year earlier. Distressed sales, meaning foreclosures and short sales, held at 2%.
On our reading, that mix is what a rate-driven slowdown looks like: buyers who need a mortgage, and especially first-time buyers without equity to roll over, are the ones dropping out, while buyers who can pay cash make up a larger share of a shrinking market. NAR’s Housing Affordability Index fell to 100.7 from 107.3 a year earlier, and affordability declined in every region, led by an 8.7% drop in the Northeast.
Prices are flattening, depending on the measure
NAR’s median price is still rising year over year, but barely. The 0.4% annual gain compares with Redfin’s finding earlier this month that U.S. home-sale prices fell 0.4% in October, the first annual decline in its data since 2023. The two figures are built differently, and NAR notes that its median can be moved by changes in the mix of homes that sell, but both point to a market where price growth has stalled.
Yun struck a more hopeful note on the outlook. “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,” he said, adding that “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.”
That decline is not in sight yet. Consumer prices rose 0.4% in October, and three Federal Reserve officials had already pushed for a rate hike at the central bank’s Oct. 28 meeting. October also followed a weak September for contracts, when Redfin data showed pending sales fell from a year earlier in every major metro, a sign that soft closings were already in the pipeline. NAR is scheduled to release its October Pending Home Sales Index on Nov. 18.
