Pending home sales fell in August, marking the first year-over-year decline since November and ending an eight-month streak of annual gains that peaked at 4.1 percent in May, according to Realtor.com’s monthly housing report.
Contract signings dropped 3.7 percent from a year earlier, the second consecutive monthly decline, as higher mortgage rates weigh on buyer demand, according to the report.
Mortgage rates have risen for six consecutive months, climbing from an average of 6.05 percent in February to 6.67 percent in August, Realtor.com data shows. The year-over-year rate comparison shifted during that span: Rates ran more than 30 basis points below year-ago levels in June and about 10 basis points above by August.
Danielle Hale | Credit: Realtor.com
“August’s data shows a housing market entering its seasonal cool-down with less momentum than it had earlier this year,” Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, said in a statement. “Higher mortgage rates are meeting a point in the calendar when activity typically slows, and buyers appear to be responding more selectively.”
The share of active listings with a price reduction rose to 20.4 percent in August, matching last year’s rate for the first time in 2026. Delistings ran 12.6 percent below last year’s pace, with no notable spike in July or August, according to the report.
Jake Krimmel, senior economist at Realtor.com, said price cuts and pending sales are moving in the opposite direction of delistings. “The national August price cut rate is now running slightly above last year’s level for the first time in 2026, and pending sales just went negative year over year for the first time in eight months,” Krimmel said in a statement. “The quit rate, delistings as a share of active inventory, has held flat around 5.5 percent for six weeks.”
Realtor.com economists said they will watch these three trends into the fall: Whether the gap in delistings compared with 2025 persists; whether sellers rely more on price reductions, including repeat cuts; and how regional differences in inventory and price cuts evolve in the Midwest and Northeast.
By the numbers: August 2026
- Pending sales: Down 0.2 percent year over year
- Price reductions: 20.4 percent of active listings, up 0.4 percentage points from July
- Delistings: Down 12.6 percent from a year earlier
- Median listing price: $424,500, down 1.3 percent year over year
- Active listings: 1,140,035, up 3.6 percent year over year
- Median days on market: 60 days, unchanged year over year
