High Costs Sideline Some Would-Be Homebuyers, Handing Upper Hand to Those Who Stay in the Market
Redfin agents say pricing realistically from the start is the key to finding a buyer; 21% of home sellers are dropping their price.
Here’s what you need to know about the housing market for the four weeks ending September 6:
- Homebuying costs are at their highest level in over a year. The typical U.S. homebuyer’s monthly mortgage payment hit a 14-month high of $2,641. That’s partly because the median home-sale price rose 2.2% year over year, and partly because the weekly average mortgage rate increased to 6.71%.
- Elevated costs are keeping some would-be buyers on the sidelines. Pending home sales were essentially flat (+0.1%) from a week earlier on a seasonally adjusted basis, sitting near their lowest level since February. Economic uncertainty is also contributing to sluggish demand. Buyers have negotiating power in most of the country, but for many house hunters, that isn’t enough to offset high costs.
- New listings fell due to Labor Day, but they’re still higher than last year. New listings fell 4.8% from a week earlier on a seasonally adjusted basis, but that’s mostly because of the timing of Labor Day weekend. New listings are up 2.1% from a year ago, and the total number of homes for sale is also up 2.1%. Sellers are listing their homes because they want to sell before prices decline, life circumstances are prompting them to move, and the lock-in effect is easing.
- Sellers should adjust their expectations. Just over one in five (20.8%) home listings had a price drop, up from 19.8% a year ago, and the typical home that sold spent 46 days on the market—one day longer than a year earlier. With some buyers shying away due to high costs and homes taking longer to sell, pricing a home realistically from the start is crucial. “Pricing attracts attention. Overpricing creates hesitation,” says Vanessa Leimback, a Redfin Premier agent in Seattle.
- But some homes are still attracting competition. One-quarter (25.5%) of homes that sold went for over their asking price, up slightly from 24.9% a year earlier. Some parts of the country, including San Francisco and New York City suburbs, have competitive markets, and Redfin agents all over the U.S. say well-priced homes in desirable neighborhoods are still attracting bidding wars.
For Redfin economists’ takes on the housing market, please visit Redfin’s “From Our Economists” page.
Leading indicators
| Indicators of homebuying demand and activity | ||||
| Value (if applicable) | Recent change | Year-over-year change | Source | |
| Daily average 30-year fixed mortgage rate | 6.97% (Sept. 9) | Highest level in over a year | Up from 6.29% | Mortgage News Daily |
| Weekly average 30-year fixed mortgage rate | 6.71% (week ending Sept. 3) | Up slightly from one week earlier | Up from 6.5% | Freddie Mac |
| Mortgage-purchase applications (seasonally adjusted) | Down 0.2% from a week earlier (as of week ending Sept. 4) | Up 4% | Mortgage Bankers Association | |
| Google searches of “homes for sale” | Down 18% from a month earlier (as of Sept. 5) | Down 15% | Google Trends | |
| Touring activity | Down 0.6% from the start of the year (as of Sept. 6) | At this time last year, it was up 21% from the start of 2025 | ShowingTime | |
Key housing-market data
| U.S. highlights: Four weeks ending Sept. 6, 2026
Redfin’s national metrics include data from 900+ U.S. metro areas and are based on homes listed and/or sold during the period. Weekly housing-market data goes back through 2021. Subject to revision. |
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| Four weeks ending Sept. 6, 2026 | Year-over-year change | Week-over-week change (where applicable) | Notes | |
| Median sale price | $398,637 | 2.2% | ||
| Median asking price (seasonally adjusted) | $398,584 | 1.1% | ||
| Median monthly mortgage payment (seasonally adjusted) | $2,641 at a 6.71% mortgage rate | 2.8% | Highest level since June 2025 | |
| Pending sales (seasonally adjusted) | 309,160 | -2.1% | 0.1% | |
| New listings (seasonally adjusted) | 364,576 | 2.1% | -4.8% | Much of the weekly drop is due to the timing of Labor Day weekend |
| Active listings (seasonally adjusted) | 1,506,212 | 2.1% | -0.2% | |
| Months of supply | 3.9 | Up from 3.8 | 4 to 5 months of supply is considered balanced, with a lower number indicating seller’s market conditions | |
| Share of homes off market in two weeks | 30.1% | Essentially unchanged | ||
| Median days on market | 46 | +1 day | ||
| Share of home listings with price drops | 20.8% | Up from 19.8% | ||
| Share of homes sold above list price | 25.5% | Up from 24.9% | ||
| Average sale-to-list price ratio | 98.7% | Up from 98.6% | ||
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Metro-level highlights: Four weeks ending Sept. 6, 2026 Redfin’s metro-level rankings data includes the 50 most populous U.S. metros. Select metros may be excluded from time to time to ensure data accuracy. |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Metros with biggest year-over-year increases | Metros with biggest year-over-year decreases |
Notes |
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| Median sale price | Milwaukee (8.7%)
San Francisco (8.5%) Cincinnati (8%) Detroit (7.5%) St. Louis (7%) |
Seattle (-4.5%) Austin, TX (-4.5%) Fort Worth, TX (-3%) San Antonio (-2.3%) Oakland, CA (-2.1%) |
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| Pending sales | Milwaukee (10.9%)
Warren, MI (8.2%) Boston (7.8%) San Francisco (6.5%) West Palm Beach, FL (5.9%) |
Seattle (-15.6%)
Denver (-11.8%) Houston (-11.4%) Atlanta (-11.3%) San Diego (-10.4%) |
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| New listings | Nashville, TN (18.5%)
San Jose, CA (10%) Tampa, FL (9.7%) Anaheim, CA (9.3%) Orlando, FL (8.9%) |
New York (-14.4%)
San Francisco (-14%) Dallas (-8.7%) Charlotte, NC (-5.2%) |
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Refer to our metrics definition page for explanations of all the metrics used in this report.
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