Pending home sales ticked up in August as some buyers got off the sidelines in the face of high prices and mortgage rates, the National Association of REALTORS® reported. Despite the bump, contract signings were still below last year’s levels.
“Buyers steadily entered into contracts in August even though mortgage rates increased,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said. “However, the housing market is still sluggish, with contract signings below last year. This is due to higher mortgage rates offsetting the increased buying power created by job gains and income growth outpacing home price growth.”
Specifically, pending sales inched up 0.3% from July but lagged August 2025 by 4.7%.
“Nationally, contract signings today are running roughly 30% below where they were in the years leading up to the pandemic,” Yun said. “Transaction activity peaked in 2021 when mortgage rates fell to near 3%, a historic low, and has not approached that level since.”
Regionally, pending home sales increased month over month in the South and West but declined in the Northeast and Midwest. Year over year, pending sales were down across the board.
“Gains in the South and West were enough to lift pending sales nationally, even as activity fell in the Northeast and Midwest,” First American Financial Senior Economist Sam Williamson said. “But the rebound was modest, with contract signings still running behind last year’s pace across every region. The regional split points to pockets of improvement, though buyer momentum remains subdued across the country.”
Of the 50 metro areas surveyed by NAR, several stood out for year-over-year gains in pending sales. Here are the top 10 markets:
- Richmond, Virginia (+11.3%)
- San Antonio-New Braunfels, Texas (+6.6%)
- Memphis, Tennessee (+6.4%)
- Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, Virginia (+5.1%)
- Cincinnati (+4.7%)
- Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, Texas (+4.2%)
- Birmingham, Alabama (+4%)
- Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, California (+1.7%)
- Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, Indiana (+0.9%)
- St. Louis (+0.2%)