Home prices are still too unaffordable. 
Existing home sales have had no traction since declining to this level in October of 2022.
Mortgage rates peaked at 7.62 percent in October 2023 over two years ago.
The National Association or Realtors reports Existing-Home Sales Rise 1.7 Percent in February following a 5.9 percent decline in January.
Existing-home sales increased by 1.7% in February 2026. Month-over-month sales rose in the Midwest, South and West, but fell in the Northeast. Year-over-year sales rose in the South and declined in the Northeast, Midwest and West.
“Housing affordability is improving, and consumers are responding,” said NAR Chief Economist Dr. Lawrence Yun. “Still, there is a long way to go to return to pre-pandemic levels of transaction activity. There are more than 6 million more jobs than in 2019, yet home sales per year are down by one million. Despite the modest gain in home sales, actual housing demand remains muted relative to wage growth and job gains. Inventory is growing, but sluggishly.”
Existing-Home Sales Month-Over-Month
Key February 2026 Statistics
- Sales Month-Over Month: 1.7% increase in existing-home sales—seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.09 million in February
- Inventory Units: 1.29 million units: Total housing inventory, up 2.4% from January and 4.9% from February 2025.
- Inventory Supply: 3.8-month supply of unsold inventory, unchanged from last month and up from 3.6 months one year ago.
- Sales Year-Over-Year: 1.4% decrease in existing-home sales
- Median existing-home price: $398,000: Median existing-home price3 for all housing types, up 0.3% from one year ago ($396,800)—the 32nd consecutive month of year-over-year price increases.
- Market Time: 47 days: Median time on market for properties, up from 46 days last month and 42 days in February 2025.
Existing-Home Sales Year-Over-Year
Existing Home Sales Supply
The NAR does not seasonally adjust much of its data as evidenced by the above chart.
Nonetheless, we can see rising supply. But rising supply has not helped sales either.
The only conclusion is home prices are still too damn high.
The labor market is also a concern.
February 2026 Nonfarm Payrolls Change by Sector in Thousands
- Nonfarm Payrolls: -92
- Manufacturing: -12
- Construction: -11
- Leisure and Hospitality: -27
- Private Education and Health Care: -34
- Professional and Business Services: -5
- Information: -11
- Financial: +10
- Retail: +2
- Wholesale: +6
- Government: -6
For discussion, please see Nonfarm Payrolls Decline by 92,000 in February, Household Data Is Garbage
Given affordability concerns across the board, I fail to see why many people would want to buy homes now. And they aren’t.
Not sure where you are getting (or fabricating) your info, Mish. This was the headline today at the NAR website:”NAR Existing-Home Sales Report Shows 1.7% Increase in February.”
Prices too high. It’s a stalemate.
My mom has a house. I rent. When she passes away, I will sell her house and buy one where I live. That’s neutral pressure.
Lot’s of houses coming on the market where I live in Florida. Folks are asking way too much. Neighbor put his on the market for $499,000 (4 br/ pool). The median income here is about $34k.
As always, it’s that homes are still too expensive. They shot up in 2020-2022 around 50 percent, and have been flat every since. That was too much, too fast, when typical appreciation is around 4 percent +/- per year. This was due to buyers being about to afford much more than “normal” with the extraordinary low rates. One of two things will happen. 1. Prices will drop back to where people can afford homes, or, 2. Prices remain flat for a few more years until incomes catch up (assuming that they do).
What I am seeing in my local market (Houston TX area) is that low price point (here $200-$400k) homes have already started on a downward slope. Higher price point homes are remaining steady. But, the local data shows that we are getting closer to the long term trends, but, still probably 2 years away. But, one thing for sure, is that so far this year, inventory is WAY up.
Take these numbers with a grain of salt as they are unverified Gemini data, and I had to specifically ask it to add the 75+ bracket from census data.
The percentage of total US homes owned, broken down by age group
Under 35 years~10%
35 – 44 years~16%
45 – 54 years~18%
55 – 64 years~22%
65 – 74 years~19% – 20%
75 years and older~14% – 15%
What I was thinking about was the eventual downward pressure on prices from sellers who age out one way or another. That 75+ is a lot of houses, and together with the 65+ it’s a really huge number.
US homeowners have an average life expectancy of 74.2 years (3.5 years longer than renters.)(Again, Gemini data.)
What’s missing is where those houses are and do people want to live there. Florida was a hot spot but now insurance, HOAs and other issues make it too expensive for people to live there.
I’m sure New York City will have plenty of homes available but can people afford to live there? Same with California. And the classic example is the rust belt of America, who wants to live in Detroit these days?
So you can have 20% of houses in New York or California become available but if it’s too expensive to live there, it won’t help.
Austin, TX, was a boom town during COVID and work from home and now it’s become crash town and boomers had nothing to do with it, it was all young people moving in or out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noffS_ZyBDg
Everyone’s cheering the drop in oil, a “mysterious” 11 m barrel short (*cough* *cough* government) but Polymarket still has huge bets oil will be over $100 by end of March.
https://polymarket.com/event/will-crude-oil-cl-hit-by-end-of-march
If you’re a working professional, you have to be very worried about AI eating your lunch. Not sure how you pay that mortgage if you get laid off by AI.
If you’re a low paid lackey, the chances of you owning a home ever are zero.
House prices have only one way to go, down. Once housing prices collapse, all the municipal/local bonds issues on the premise of property taxes go kaput.
Once the high paying jobs are gone that means no more taxes for social security, medicare, or other tax based programs.
Private equity is already limiting redemptions. Commercial real estate is on the edge of the cliff hanging by the hand nails.
All of this is shaping up to form up a great crash and depression. Throw in wars, energy disruptions, demographic death spirals as sprinkles on the cake.
Normally I’d finished with, “got exit strategy?” but I don’t know where you go to escape this mess. Only a few options left and I can smell the stampede already.
Same problem for paid trolls. AI will replace them too.
You’re projecting again Doug.
I don’t think so. I think he’s a True Believer, avidly huffing the Trumpstien jenkim.
StuHooHoo is a lot more professional and consistent. I’d believe he’s paid, or a really good bot.
Easy to see AI will be replacing you.
No, I am stating a fact. Why pay trolls who make stupid comments when you can have an AI for almost free who can undermine someone’s arguments using figures and logic? It is a no-brainer. Do you not agree?
The only thing we agree on is that you’re a filthy boomer socialist that’s double dipping social programs in the US and in France. You’re the type of parasite that I despise the most, a true leech feeding off the hard work of everyone else.
I am not socialist. I detest them but the problem is that Libertarians see anyone slightly to the left of them as socialists. In that Libertarians are like Democrats who see anyone to right of them as fascist. The extremes hate the Center and always will. They often unite to try to destroy the Center as we see they are trying to do now. They end up supporting people who would put their heads on a pike if they ever gained power yet they still ally with them. Go figure.
Well you’re on a libertarian website. Why do you keep coming back here if it’s not aligned with your “centrist” views? Why are you here?
All you do is come here, criticize the comments as dumb, then you accuse others of being paid trolls. Is that all that you can contribute here?
A man of your age and wisdom should be contributing something insightful not endless whining and complaining.
I like injecting other opinions into your Libertarian bubble. This blog is for everybody, isn’t it? If the master of this blog wants me out he will kick me out but he hasn’t yet.
That sounds awful, hope you got an exit strategy?
Existing Home Sales Stagnant – Because ‘Home Prices’ Did Not Come Down Much – Only Dropped 10 – 20 Percent Out Here In ‘Colorado’.!
Rapid Rise In Interest Rates (FED) – Killed Home Sales.!
FED Lowered ‘Interest Rates’ To Zero – For Almost 10 Years – To Save The Too Big To Fail/Jail Corporations
+ Banksters.!
I will agree the rise in interest rates killed sales, but I still think what the price of the house itself killed the market. It simple became more cost effective to rent when you factor in all the other costs to home ownership.
I also believe it is not the rates that need to be lowered but the actual cost of the house. It is all those extra costs that will come down with it and even at at higher rate be more affordable.
The higher rates help savers, bond buyers, pension funds, etc.
If I bought the place I rent for < 2k, with cash, I would lose 4k a month in interest I can earn on the purchase price, risk free.
I would also be on the hook for property tax and maintenance, so that rises to $5500 or so.
Prices aren’t rising, and the bidding wars are over. I don’t see any upside at all to buying a house right now.
Yep…home prices too high. A slight drop in the mortgage rates helps, but not enough to offset the high sticker prices. Here in Central Florida, some builders in massive, new developments, are having to cut prices and/or add a lot of ‘free’ features. New home builders have to move inventory as they have bills to pay. Existing homeowners can sit and try to get their high asking prices. I think that they too will see a softening market and eventually come to grips that they will have to lower their asking price if they really want to sell their home.
They really don’t want to sell their homes…at a price they consider too low.
Florida is filled up. I remember when we moved there in 1970 there was only 4 million or so people. Now the state is very prosperous but unrecognizable to those who knew it when it was a wild wilderness. Since prosperity is spreading out of the coasts to the Midwest and the South I would expect that the population will follow. If you want a reasonably priced house, move to Kansas or Missouri or perhaps (gasp!) Indiana and Ohio. Alternately you can stay in overly priced areas and eat noodles.
It was almost 7 million in 1970. Roughly tripled since then most noticeable in the major cities.
You are right. It was 6.7 million. Anyway that was a lot less than it is now. The atmosphere was completely different. When did you move there? I was in the Space Coast area. Tom Wolfe in “The Right Stuff” described it exactly.
I live in Titusville. I was born before there was a local hospital and raised here. I was witness to paradise lost. Back in the ’50’s, they used to fish for trout in the Indian River by watching for the clear water to fluoresce as the fish swam by. Today it’s a cesspool.
Price follows prosperity. If it’s cheap, it hasn’t been prospering for long.
The lag effect is real. Better take advantage of it before it is too late.
I’ve lived down there. It’s been too late since they lost the civil war.
Even if it becomes the center of wealth and civilization, it’s still the dirty south.
Florida in the late 1990s and 2000s was awesome.
1981-1999 was the peak of good living in Florida…
Yeah, I miss the Florida of my youth, and I am not old – just entering middle age. It’s amazing how fast that place changed because of the population exploding. And it’s not done yet. Some of the metros like Orlando still are booming from all the people fleeing places like NY/NJ.
Disclosure: Not a native Floridian but I have been visiting since my childhood and it is not the same place. Feels like another world actually.