Following the sharp decline last month, existing home sales bounced back in February as housing affordability improved. Lower mortgage rates and moderating home price growth helped pull buyers back to the market. However, tight inventory will likely continue to push home prices higher if demand outpaces supply growth.

Total existing home sales, including single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops, rose 1.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.09 million in February, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). On a year-over-year basis, sales were 1.4% lower than a year ago.

Existing-home sales increased by 1.7% month-over-month in February, according to the National Association of Realtors Existing Home Sales Report.

Month-over-month sales rose in the Midwest, South and West, and fell in the Northeast. Year-over-year sales rose in the South and fell in the Northeast, Midwest and West.

Affordability improved for the eighth consecutive month, according to NAR’s Housing Affordability Index-increasing to 117.6 in February from 117.1 in January and 103.1 a year ago. This marks the highest level since March 2022.

“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 six 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,” Yun continued. “Wage growth is now outpacing home price growth by almost four percentage points. Mortgage rates are also measurably lower compared to a year ago.”

“Inventory is growing, but sluggishly,” he added. “If demand picks up notably in the coming months and outpaces supply growth, home prices will inevitably rise. That is why increasing supply is so important to help limit home price growth, improve housing affordability, and boost transactions.”


National Snapshot
- Total Existing-Home Sales for February
- 1.7% increase in existing-home sales1 month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.09 million.
- 1.4% decrease in sales year-over-year.
- 1.29 million units: Total housing inventory2, up 2.4% from January and 4.9% from February 2025.
- 3.8-month supply of unsold inventory, unchanged from last month and up from 3.6 months one year ago.
- $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.
- The Housing Affordability Index rose to 117.6 in February, up from 117.1 in January and 103.1 a year ago.
- Year-over-year, affordability improved across all regions.
- Northeast +10.0%
- Midwest +11.7%
- South +14.1%
- West +17.0%

Source: eyeonhousing.org