February US Existing Home Sales Rise Unexpectedly, Inventories Still Tight

10:00 AM EDT, 03/10/2026 (MT Newswires) -- The pace of US existing home sales rose by 1.7% to a 4.09 million seasonally adjusted annual rate in February from an upwardly revised 4.02 million rate in January, compared with an expected decrease to a 3.88 million rate in a survey compiled by Bloomberg as of 7:40 am ET, data from the National Association of Realtors released Tuesday showed.

Total sales were down 1.4% from a year earlier.

"Housing affordability is improving, and consumers are responding," said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. "Still, there is a long way to go to return to pre-pandemic levels of transaction activity."

Sales of single-family homes were up 2.5%, while condominium sales fell by 5.3%. Sales were up in three out of four regions of the country compared with the previous month, falling only in the Northeast region. However, sales rose only in the South region when compared with a year earlier.

Homes remained on the market a median of 47 days, up from 46 days in January and 42 days a year ago.

According to NAR Housing Affordability Index, housing is currently the most affordable since March 2022.

At the same time, Yun said that more inventory is needed. The supply of homes for sale increased to 1.29 million homes in February from 1.26 million in January and jumped by 4.9% from the 1.23 million level a year ago. The month supply on market remained at 3.8 months in February, the same as in January, but was higher than the 3.6 months supply a year ago.

Yun added that even though home sales have risen slightly, the actual demand for home sales is still relatively weak compared to wage and job growth even as mortgage rates are lower than a year earlier.

The median home price rose to $398,000 from a $395,000 level in January and was up 0.3% from a $396,800 level one year ago.

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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