Pending home sales hit 2026 low
“Right now, pending contracts are 30% below their pre-pandemic 2019 level, while payroll employment is 5% above,” he said.
“That gap points to sizable pent-up demand that should be unleashed in the coming years as more supply reaches the market and affordability improves.”
The labor market complicates the timeline. The US shed 23,000 jobs in July, and 234,000 workers exited the labor force entirely, according to the US Labor Department. The unemployment rate held at 4.1%.
At the metro level, several markets defied the national slide. Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk led the nation’s 50 largest metros with a 17.2% annual gain in pending sales, followed by San Antonio-New Braunfels at 11.8% and Cincinnati at 6.2%.
Mortgage Professional America
Top 10 metros by pending home sale growth
Year-over-year change, July 2026 – among the 50 largest US metro areas
| Metro area | YoY change | |
|---|---|---|
| 1Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC |
|
+17.2% |
| 2San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX |
|
+11.8% |
| 3Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN |
|
+6.2% |
| 4Pittsburgh, PA |
|
+3.7% |
| 5Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL |
|
+2.4% |
| 6Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX |
|
+1.6% |
| 7Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY |
|
+1.3% |
| 8St. Louis, MO-IL |
|
+1.2% |
| 9Jacksonville, FL |
|
+1.2% |
| 10Columbus, OH |
|
+0.2% |
Source: Realtor.com Economics / National Association of Realtors, August 2026 Figures represent year-over-year % change in pending home sales
Midwest holds; West takes the steepest fall
The Midwest posted the mildest monthly contraction at 0.7% and was the sole region to record annual growth, rising 1.7% year-over-year.
