New listings hit a three-month high, but near-record mortgage rates are keeping buyers on the sidelines
New listings of US homes climbed for a fifth consecutive week in the four weeks ending August 16, rising 1.2% week over week to 375,212 on a seasonally adjusted basis, the highest level in over three months, according to Redfin.
The uptick signals that more homeowners are accepting current market conditions and moving ahead with sales, even as prospective buyers grow increasingly reluctant to act.
Pending home sales, however, told a different story. Contracts fell 1.3% week over week to 310,935, their lowest level since March, and were down 2.4% year over year.
Rates near 13-month highs keep buyers sidelined
The weekly average 30-year fixed mortgage rate stood at 6.67% for the week ending August 13, just shy of its highest level in over a year, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
Mortgage Bankers Association data for the week ending August 14 showed purchase applications fell 2% week over week and were down 3% year over year, while Google Trends data showed searches for "homes for sale" had dropped 9% from a month earlier as of August 15.
The median home sale price reached $401,182, up 1.8% year over year, keeping affordability under pressure. The median monthly mortgage payment sits at $2,597 at the current rate.
Mortgage applications for newly built homes slipped in July, with the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reporting a 5.7% year-over-year decline and a 1% month-over-month drop.https://t.co/I2RiisWjyg
— Mortgage Professional America Magazine (@MPAMagazineUS) August 20, 2026
One data point offering slight encouragement: the median asking price fell 0.1% year over year to $393,227, the first such decline since January, per Redfin.
Loan originators monitoring how shifting housing inventory affects purchase mortgage volume will note that with roughly half a million more sellers than buyers in the market, Redfin economists say some sellers are now willing to accept lower offers and provide concessions, a shift that could convert hesitant borrowers into closed loans.
Regional divergence grows sharper
The national picture conceals stark regional contrasts. West Palm Beach, Florida led pending sales gains with a 9.6% year-over-year increase, followed by San Francisco at 4.7%.
Seattle posted the steepest decline, with pending sales down 17.9% year over year, and Houston fell 16.3%. For brokers originating in Texas markets, that trajectory matters — Houston also saw the largest new listings gains at 10%, while Dallas saw new listings fall 13.6%.
Jamie Derouen, a Redfin Premier agent in the Houston area, noted that life circumstances continue to drive listing decisions regardless of broader market dynamics.
"Some of my clients are selling because they're retiring and downsizing, some are relocating for a job, and some are growing their families," Derouen said.
"Some homeowners have been waiting for mortgage rates to fall and demand to surge — but now they realize that's unlikely to happen anytime soon, so they're taking the plunge now."
Redfin economists suggest the current supply-demand imbalance may represent a negotiating window. With active listings at 1,497,489 — up 1.2% year over year — and 20.8% of listings carrying price reductions, buyers who act now may find more room to negotiate than at any point in recent months.
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