Washington, D.C., April 21, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Pending house gross sales in March elevated by 1.5% from the prior month and declined 1.1% year-over-year, in accordance with the Nationwide Affiliation of REALTORS® Pending House Gross sales report. The report gives the true property ecosystem—together with brokers, homebuyers and sellers—with information on the extent of house gross sales beneath contract.
Month-over-month pending house gross sales rose within the Northeast and South, and declined within the Midwest and West. 12 months-over-year pending house gross sales rose within the South, and declined within the Northeast, Midwest and West.
“Contract signings rose in March despite higher mortgage rates, pointing to pent-up housing demand,” mentioned NAR Chief Economist Dr. Lawrence Yun. “A greater supply of inventory will help translate that demand into more home sales.”
“Demand sensitivity to mortgage rates is greatest among first-time buyers, particularly younger buyers,” Yun mentioned. “As a result, boosting supply and new-home construction should focus on smaller, more affordable homes.”
“A good number of markets in the South experienced price cuts over the past year but recorded the strongest job growth,” Yun added. “That combination should lead to stronger housing market activity in the South this year.”
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March 2026 Nationwide Pending House Gross sales
1.5% enhance month-over-month1.1% lower year-over-year
March 2026 Regional Pending House Gross sales
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Northeast
4.4% enhance month-over-month6.5% lower year-over-year
Midwest
1.3% lower month-over-month3.1% lower year-over-year
South
3.9% enhance month-over-month2.3% enhance year-over-year
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West
2.6% lower month-over-month1.7% lower year-over-year
On the native degree, a number of markets posted notable year-over-year beneficial properties in pending house gross sales. Among the many 50 largest metro areas, the next 10 markets posted the most important annual will increase in pending house gross sales, in accordance with information from Realtor.com® Economics:
Kansas Metropolis, MO-KS (+14.9%)Milwaukee–Waukesha, WI (+13.5%)Austin–Spherical Rock–San Marcos, TX (+12.8%)Phoenix–Mesa–Chandler, AZ (+12.1%)Raleigh–Cary, NC (+10.0%)Portland–Vancouver–Hillsboro, OR-WA (+9.7%)Richmond, VA (+8.5%)Virginia Seaside–Chesapeake–Norfolk, VA-NC (+8.5%)Dallas–Fort Price–Arlington, TX (+8.1%)Washington–Arlington–Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV (+8.0%)
In regards to the Nationwide Affiliation of REALTORS®The Nationwide Affiliation of REALTORS® is concerned in all features of residential and business actual property. The time period REALTOR® is a registered collective membership mark that identifies an actual property skilled who’s a member of the Nationwide Affiliation of REALTORS® and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics. Without cost shopper guides about navigating the homebuying and promoting transaction processes—from written purchaser agreements to negotiating compensation—go to details.realtor.
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*The Pending House Gross sales Index is a number one indicator for the housing sector, based mostly on pending gross sales of current houses. A sale is listed as pending when the contract has been signed however the transaction has not closed, although the sale normally is finalized inside one or two months of signing.
Pending contracts are good early indicators of upcoming gross sales closings. Nonetheless, the period of time between pending contracts and accomplished gross sales will not be similar for all house gross sales. Variations within the size of the method from pending contract to closed sale will be attributable to points reminiscent of purchaser difficulties with acquiring mortgage financing, house inspection issues, or appraisal points.
The index relies on a pattern that covers about 40% of a number of itemizing service information every month. In growing the mannequin for the index, it was demonstrated that the extent of month-to-month sales-contract exercise parallels the extent of closed existing-home gross sales within the following two months.
An index of 100 is the same as the common degree of contract exercise throughout 2001, which was the primary 12 months to be examined. By coincidence, the quantity of existing-home gross sales in 2001 fell inside the vary of 5.0 to five.5 million, which is taken into account regular for the present U.S. inhabitants.
