The National Association of Realtors' October data put sales of already built homes at 3.75m, an 8.8% drop from the year before and the weakest level since August 2010, with record-high mortgage rates and rising inflation cited as the drivers.

Sales fall across most of the country

The decline was broad but not universal.

• •Sales fell in the midwest, the south and the west.
• •Sales in the north-east held steady.

The median existing-home sales price increased slightly to $416,700.

Mortgage rates climb to near three-year high

The 30-year mortgage rate, the most commonly used home loan rate, now hovers at about 7.18%, not far from its 2023 high of 7.79%; pandemic-era averages were just above 3%. Rates had been moving the other way through 2024 and 2025, with the 30-year rate falling below 6% for the first time in February 2026, before inflation and higher interest rates amid the Iran war pushed them to a nearly three-year high.

Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the NAR, framed the squeeze plainly: "Home buying is difficult when mortgage rates have climbed to their highest levels since 2000, aside from a single month in 2023".

Pending sales and Fed policy add pressure

Forward indicators point the same way. Pending home sales - contracts signed before closing - reached their lowest levels in the NAR's history in September, the same month the 30-year rate first topped 7% in nearly two years. The Federal Reserve, which in September hiked interest rates for the first time since 2023, currently has rates in a range of 3.75% to 4%.

The central bank is poised to raise rates again next month to combat heightened inflation, which rose more than expected in October.

What economists say

Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, argued the slump is not the new normal: "it reflects a perfect storm of an abrupt shift in the financial environment and large uncertainties in the pre-election period".