January US Existing Home Sales Fall More Than Expected, Supply Still Tight

10:00 AM EST, 02/12/2026 (MT Newswires) -- The pace of US existing home sales fell by 8.4% to a 3.91 million seasonally adjusted annual rate in January from 4.27 million in December, compared with a smaller expected decrease to a 4.15 million rate in a survey compiled by Bloomberg, data from the National Association of Realtors released Thursday showed.

Total sales were down 4.4% from a year earlier and were the lowest since December 2023.

"The decrease in sales is disappointing," said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. "The below-normal temperatures and above-normal precipitation this January make it harder than usual to assess the underlying driver of the decrease and determine if this month's numbers are an aberration."

Sales of single-family homes were down 9%, while condominium sales fell by 2.6%. Sales were down in all four regions of the country from both December and from a year ago.

Homes remained on the market a median of 46 days, up from 39 days in December and 41 days a year ago.

According to Yun, housing is currently the most affordable since March 2022 as wage gains have outpaced home price growth and mortgage rates are low, but the short supply has restrained sales.

The supply of homes for sale fell to 1.22 million homes in January from 1.23 million in December but were up 3.4% from the 1.18 million level a year ago.

The month supply on market at the current sales rate rose to 3.7 months from 3.5 months in both December and a year ago.

The median home price fell to $396,800 from $405,100 in December but was up 0.9% from a level of $393,400 a year ago.

"Due to low supply, the median home price reached a new high for the month of January," Yun said. "Homeowners are in a financially comfortable position as a result. Since January 2020, a typical homeowner would have accumulated $130,500 in housing wealth."

The monthly existing home sales report from the National Association of Realtors measures sales of single-family and multi-family homes for resale at the time of closing, including the number of existing homes available and the median sales price. A strong reading is a positive sign for mortgage lenders and related consumer product companies.

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