October Existing-Home Sales Rise as Mortgage Rates Fall, NAR Says

12:40 PM EST, 11/20/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Existing home sales in the US rose more than expected last month amid lower mortgage rates, data from the National Association of Realtors showed Thursday.

Sales grew 1.2% sequentially to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.10 million units in October. The consensus was for a 0.5% gain in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

"Home sales increased in October even with the government shutdown due to homebuyers taking advantage of lower mortgage rates," NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said. The 43-day-long record federal government shutdown ended last week.

The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage decreased to 6.25% last month from 6.35% in September, the NAR said, citing Freddie Mac data. The median sales price of existing homes rose 2.1% year over year to $415,200 in October, marking the 28th straight month of annual gains, according to the report.

Single-family home sales edged up 0.8% month over month to 3.71 million units last month, while condominium and co-op sales advanced 5.4% to 390,000 units, the NAR said.

"Rents are decelerating, which will reduce inflation and encourage the Federal Reserve to continue cutting (interest) rates and pulling back their quantitative tightening," Yun said. "This will help bring more homebuyers into the market since the Fed rate has an indirect impact on mortgage rates."

On Wednesday, minutes of the Fed's October monetary policy meeting showed that officials offered "strongly differing views" regarding the central bank's interest rate decision for December, underscoring a growing divide among policymakers. The Fed delivered a second straight 25-basis-point rate cut last month amid continued concerns regarding the labor market.

The probability that the Federal Open Market Committee will lower rates by another quarter percentage point next month increased to 40% Thursday from 30% Wednesday, according to the CME FedWatch tool. The odds of rates remaining unchanged fell to 60% from 70%.

Earlier this week, data from the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo showed that homebuilder confidence moved up this month amid lower mortgage rates, though market and broader headwinds persist.

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