Existing-home sales fall below 4 million as yields hit a 52-week high
The National Association of Realtors said Thursday, September 10, 2026, that August existing-home sales fell 2.0% to a 3.98 million annual rate, with 4.9 months of supply, as the 10-year yield touched 4.92%.
U.S. existing-home listings climbed above 1.6 million in August for the first time since November 2019, and sales still fell below a 4 million annual pace, the National Association of Realtors reported Thursday. More homes on the market did not mean more closings.
Total inventory rose 3.2% from July and 5.9% from a year earlier to 1.62 million homes, a 4.9-month supply, up from 4.6 months in both July and August 2025. NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun called 4.9 months of supply the highest in more than ten years and said the extra listings give buyers more room to negotiate. The seasonally adjusted annual rate was 3.98 million, down 2.0% from July’s 4.06 million and down 1.2% from a year earlier, the first reading below 4 million since June 2025. The median existing-home price was $429,100, up 1.6% from $422,400 in August 2025, the 38th consecutive month of year-over-year increases.
Yun called the sales decline a “mild dip” tied to high mortgage rates and noted that existing-home sales were still up 1.6% year-to-date through the first eight months. Homes spent a median 31 days on market, up from 29 in July. First-time buyers accounted for 30% of purchases, and cash buyers 27%. The decline was broad; only the West held even on the month.
Mortgage rates already had August’s number
Freddie Mac’s 30-year fixed average was 6.67% in August, up from 6.54% in July. The latest weekly reading, for September 3, was 6.71%. Yun’s mechanism is the simple one: mortgage rates and home sales move in opposite directions.
Wednesday's par curve put the 10-year at 4.83%
That constraint is tighter this morning, not looser. The 10-year Treasury yield last traded at 4.92% as of 10:50 a.m. Eastern, up 8 basis points, after touching 4.924%, matching its 52-week high. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $99.85, up 4.0%, after crossing $100 a barrel.
August’s sales are already in the books. The rate that produced them is still moving.
Construction funds, not listing portals
Existing-home sales count resale closings. The funds that will show you that market on a screen do not own the brokers. iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF ITB, which etf.net grades a D among consumer-discretionary funds, and State Street’s SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF XHB, graded a B in the same category, hold builders and building-products companies, not Zillow or Compass. iShares Residential and Multisector Real Estate ETF REZ, graded a C among U.S. real estate funds, is apartments, health-care REITs and self-storage. iShares Mortgage Real Estate ETF REM, graded a B among mortgage REITs, is mortgage REITs. iShares MBS ETF MBB, graded a B among mortgage-backed bond funds, is agency mortgage-backed securities.
They hold builders, landlords and mortgage paper. NAR’s unit count is not in them. ITB is concentrated in the big public builders: D.R. Horton at 16.7%, PulteGroup at 10.3%, Lennar at 7.9% and NVR at 7.6% as of Thursday. XHB tracks the S&P Homebuilders Select Industry Index and is much flatter, with locks-and-doors name Allegion, Owens Corning and Williams-Sonoma among its largest lines. REZ is 25.3% Welltower; Invitation Homes, the single-family rental name, is only 3.5%. REM is 25.9% Annaly Capital Management and 16.7% AGNC Investment.
By 10:50 a.m. Eastern, the construction and mortgage funds were lower with the 10-year; residential REITs were not.
That is not a one-print reaction. ITB is down 12.5% over the past month and 22.0% over the past year; XHB is down 12.2% and 16.0% over the same windows. Over the two sessions before Thursday’s report, with no NAR print on the board, the 10-year yield rose to 4.84% from Friday’s 4.78% close and ITB fell 3.8%. Lennar last traded at $76.95, down 4.7% and near its 52-week low of $76.78. D.R. Horton was down 3.3% and PulteGroup 3.0%. The S&P 500 was down 0.4%. One morning does not turn those paths; it sits on top of them.
Traders were pricing a 70% chance of a rate increase at the Federal Open Market Committee’s September 15-16 meeting, CNBC reported at 10:34 a.m. Eastern.
Frequently asked
Why did sales fall when there were more homes for sale?
NAR's chief economist tied the dip to high mortgage rates, which move opposite to home sales, even as listings rose to their highest supply in more than ten years.
Are prices falling too?
No: the median existing-home price was $429,100, the 38th straight month of year-over-year increases.
Can I buy an ETF that tracks existing-home sales?
No: the funds tied to housing hold builders, landlords and mortgage paper, not brokers or resale closings, so NAR's unit count isn't in them.
How did those funds trade on the report?
The construction and mortgage funds fell with the 10-year yield, while residential REITs edged higher.