Sales of existing home were up 1.2% in October despite the government shutdown, the National Association of Realtors said in its Existing-Home Sales Report.
NAR said that month-over-month sales increased in the Midwest and South, were unchanged in the Northeast, and fell in the West. The organization said the year-over-year sales were up in the Northeast, Midwest and South, and decreased in the West.
“Home sales increased in October even with the government shutdown due to homebuyers taking advantage of lower mortgage rates. Rents are decelerating which will reduce inflation and encourage the Federal Reserve to continue cutting rates and pulling back their quantitative tightening,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said. “This will help bring more homebuyers into the market since the Fed rate has an indirect impact on mortgage rates.”
NAR reported that existing-home sales rose by 1.5% month-over-month in September.
The existing-home sales data measures sales and prices of existing single-family homes for the nation overall, and includes breakdowns for the West, Midwest, South, and Northeast regions of the country. The figures include condos and co-ops, in addition to single-family homes.
Affordability, Uncertainty Remain Issues in Home Sales
According to NAR, the October data showed 4.1 million in sales, a median sales price of $415,200 (+2.1% year-over-year), and 4.4 months of inventory (+0.4 year-over-year).
Bright MLS Chief Economist Lisa Sturtevant said that the market still faces headwinds moving forward.
“Falling mortgage rates and more inventory have brought some buyers into the market, but affordability and uncertainty continue to be the two big headwinds in the housing market at the end of 2025. We’re likely to see sales end 2025 only slightly higher than a year ago,” Sturtevant said.
She said that the big question for 2026 is which will win out—lower rates or economic uncertainty?
“There is optimism that lower mortgage rates and affordability improvements will lead to an increase in homebuying activity. But we should probably temper expectations for a big surge in sales and listings. There is still a lot of economic wariness, leading more consumers to pull back on spending and express concerns about the outlook for their personal financial situations,” Sturtevant said.
Bankrate Housing Market Analyst Jeff Ostrowski said that despite the rise, home sales are still near record lows at an annual pace of just 4.1 million home sales in October.
“By contrast, during the pandemic, home sales were well above 6 million a year, while the average was just over 5 million during the pre-pandemic years,” he said.
Ostrowski noted that home prices still are at record highs.
“The pace of appreciation has slowed, but existing home prices are still rising. The median price of existing homes was $415,200, up 2.1% from October 2024 and a record high for the month of October,” he said.
Selling times are ticking up, but first-time buyers are struggling, he said.
“The median time on market for homes for sale was 34 days, up from 33 days last month, and just 32% of sales were to first-time buyers. That’s up from 27% a year ago,” he said.
Ostrowski said the housing recession continues.
“The housing recession that started in 2023 remains in place, at least when it comes to sales volumes. Transactions have been muted for three years now. However, home values are holding strong nationally. Home sales won’t accelerate meaningfully unless home prices fall or mortgage rates plunge – and neither of those scenarios looks likely,” he said.
