Pending home sales jump across U.S. as mortgage rates fall in August

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Sep 29, 2025, 6:29 PM UTC

National Association of Realtors’ index rose 4 percent last month from July

Sep 29, 2025, 6:29 PM UTC

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Pending home sales rose in August as mortgage rates declined. 

The National Association of Realtors’ Pending Home Sales Index, which measures home sales based on deals in contract, rose 4 percent in August from July and 3.8 percent higher year over year.

The rising index, adjusted for seasonality, indicates an improvement in the housing market, as transactions typically take one to two months to finalize. NAR, an industry organization that represents both the commercial and residential sectors, attributed the increase to last month’s drop in borrowing costs ahead of the Federal Reserve’s September meeting.

The index hit an all-time low in January, and began to rise in March. The market fluctuated in the spring along with news of tariffs and economic uncertainty. Mortgage applications also fell during the spring selling season, typically the busiest time of year for residential real estate, as interest rates remained stubbornly high.

Compared to August 2024, each region in the U.S. saw its pending home sales rise last month, with the Midwest posting the greatest growth, of 6.7 percent. The Midwest, which has been on a home-building boom of late, particularly compared to other parts of the country, also posted the greatest monthly increase, of 8.7 percent.

Only one region, the Northeast, saw the number of deals in contract slide from July to August, by 1.1 percent.

Realtors are also more optimistic about closing out the year strong.

Almost 1 in 5 NAR members anticipate that buyer traffic will rise over the next three months, according to an August survey. That finding was up from 16 percent in July but flat year over year. Nineteen percent of members surveyed also expect seller traffic to rise, which was down from 21 percent in July but up from 18 percent year over year.