July 2026 Existing-Home Sales: Sales Edge Down as Mortgage Rates and Price Cuts Rise
While existing-home sales showed a preliminary 7% year-over-year surge in July 2026 (largely reflecting contracts signed in June when mortgage rates hovered around 6.5%), leading indicators point to a much slower second half of the year. According to the Zillow July Market Report (released August 6, 2026), newly pending listings—a key forward-looking indicator of future closings—grew just 0.3% year-over-year and fell 7.7% sequentially from June 2026.
This slowdown in the pipeline of future sales coincided with a fresh oil price shock in July that pushed the 10-year Treasury yield to 4.67% (as of August 27, 2026) and sent mortgage rates higher, prompting home buyers to pause their searches.
Inventory continues its slow but steady recovery, with active listings sitting at 1.41 million homes nationwide in July—up 1.5% year-over-year and up 0.9% sequentially from June. This extends the streak of year-over-year supply gains to 32 months. However, Realtor.com reports that active listings remain 11.6% below pre-pandemic (2017-19) levels.
As inventory slowly builds and buyer demand cools, sellers are increasingly forced to adjust expectations. The share of listings with a price cut rose to 27.1% in July (up from 25.7% in June), while asking prices fell for a ninth consecutive month. Homes are also taking longer to sell, with a median of 25 days to go pending in July (up from 20 days a year earlier).