Existing home sales hit lowest rate since August 2010

The National Association of Realtors reported that existing-home sales fell 5.5% in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.75 million, the lowest since August 2010. Sales were 8.8% below October 2025, extending a prolonged slowdown in the market for previously owned homes.

The October pace was the weakest in more than 16 years. The figures count completed transactions, which likely reflected contracts signed in August and September, according to the association. The monthly decline therefore captures deals made before some of the more recent movement in mortgage rates.

Sales fell from September in the Midwest, South and West, while the Northeast was unchanged. Compared with a year earlier, sales were lower in all four regions. The decline also reached every single-family home price category, including homes priced at $1 million or more, according to supplemental data cited in reporting on the release.

The median price of an existing home rose 0.4% from a year earlier to $416,700, the National Association of Realtors reported. Inventory increased 4.6% year over year to 1.59 million homes at the end of October, equivalent to 5.1 months of supply at the current sales...