US home sales rose 1.5% in September as inventory grew

Sales of existing homes in the United States rose a little in September 2026. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) released the numbers on October 13.

The headline numbers

Sales rose 1.5 percent from August. At a seasonally adjusted annual rate, that is 3.99 million. Compared with September 2025, sales were down 2.2 percent.

The median sale price was $417,500, up 1.3 percent from a year earlier. The median is the middle price: half of homes sold above it and half below.

The number of homes for sale rose 1.9 percent from August, to 1.60 million. That equals 4.8 months of supply, meaning it would take 4.8 months to sell every listed home at the current pace.

A slow autumn

Even with the small gain, NAR’s chief economist Lawrence Yun said August and September were the weakest two months of 2026 so far for sales. He pointed to rising mortgage rates in recent weeks, which mean fewer buyers can qualify for a loan.

“Higher inventory and lengthening days on market give buyers improved negotiating power.”

Lawrence Yun, NAR Chief Economist

Yun also said sellers need to be realistic about local conditions. That could mean price cuts or other incentives to attract buyers.

Where sales moved

From August to September, sales rose in the South and the West. They held steady in the Midwest and fell in the Northeast. Compared with a year earlier, sales fell in all four regions.

How to read a national report

This report covers the whole country and every price level. It does not show what is happening in any one city or at the top of the market. Prime coastal markets often move on their own path. This month, for example, a Laguna Beach estate sold for about $82.6 million, even as national sales stayed slow.

A few terms help when you read these reports:

• Existing home sales: sales of homes that were lived in before, not new builds. NAR says they make up more than 90 percent of US home sales.
• Seasonally adjusted annual rate: the yearly total if one month’s pace held for 12 months, with normal seasonal swings removed.
• Months of supply: how long current listings would last at the current sales pace.

What to watch

The next NAR report, for October, is due Thursday, November 12. Mortgage rates are the main thing to watch. Yun links rising rates to fewer buyers who can qualify, and says more listings give the buyers who remain more room to negotiate.

Top photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0. Cropped.