Sales of existing US homes tumble to lowest level since 2010

US PREVIOUSLY owned home sales fell in October to a 16-year low as a cascade of negative news on mortgage rates and inflation deterred would-be buyers.

Contract closings in October decreased 5.5 per cent to an annualised rate of 3.75 million, according to figures released on Thursday (Nov 12) by the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Sales plummeted in the West to the slowest pace in data back to 1999 and hit the lowest levels in more than a decade in both the South and Midwest.

The housing market looks increasingly grim as discouraged buyers grapple with mortgage rates above 7 per cent and stubbornly high inflation across the economy.

The 30-year rate has eased in recent weeks after hitting an almost three-year high in early October.

For housing, “this is the probably the worst of it, but I’m not expecting much improvement in the near term here, because even the little relief we’ve seen on mortgage rates, they’re still at pretty high levels”, said Ben Ayers, a senior economist at Nationwide.

THE BUSINESS TIMES INSIGHTS

Powering Asean's Future 2026

Find out how enterprises are navigating power constraints and sustainability targets

ACCESS THE INSIGHTS

“People are saying 2026 is just not the year to buy a home.”

At the same time, the pullback in demand may eventually help to improve affordability.

Separate figures this week from online marketplace Redfin showed 36 per cent of homes that sold in October had at least one price drop, marking the highest share in the company’s data.

SEE ALSO

US mortgage rates retreat for third week while holding above 7%

Millionaire magnet Cape Town faces short supply of luxury homes

What the US midterms mean for the economy

The active inventory of existing homes on the market continued to rise in the month, even as the number of new listings weakened, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Drew Reading said in a Nov 9 note. That also suggests price relief may be building. 

“Based on the current underwhelming home sales pace at a time of consistent job growth, there could be sizeable pent-up demand if mortgage rates decline,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement. 

Supply builds

NAR’s data show the supply of homes on the resale market increased 4.6 per cent from a year earlier to 1.59 million, the most for any October since 2019. That represents 5.1 months of supply at the current sales pace, the highest since late 2015.

The median sales price increased 0.4 per cent from a year ago – the smallest annual advance since February – to US$416,700.

Housing was a key component of the affordability crisis that helped sweep Democrats to power in the midterm elections.

NAR’s housing affordability index, which measures whether a typical family earns enough to qualify for a mortgage for a median-priced home, decreased to the lowest level since mid-2025.

The NAR report also showed sales of existing condominiums slid to the lowest level in records back to 1999.

Separate data out on Thursday showed applications for unemployment benefits rose last week to 200,000 but held close to historically low levels. BLOOMBERG