U.S. existing home sales remained stuck near a 30-year low through 2025, as high home prices and mortgage rates kept many would-be buyers on the sidelines, the National Association of Realtors said. The industry’s sales slump has stretched since 2022, when mortgage rates began rising from pandemic-era lows, combining with years of sharp price gains and a persistent shortage of homes nationally.
NAR said sales of previously occupied homes totaled 4.06 million last year, essentially flat compared with 2024, which itself was reported as the lowest level since 1995. The median national home price increased 1.7% in 2025 to $414,400, NAR said, while sales stayed close to a roughly 4-million annual pace that is below the 5.2-million historical norm.
Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said that 2025 was “another tough year for homebuyers, marked by record-high home prices and historically low home sales,” and added that conditions began improving in the fourth quarter as mortgage rates fell and home price growth slowed. In NAR’s framing, easing mortgage rates helped create momentum late in the year, even as affordability remained a challenge for many prospective buyers—especially first-time buyers without equity.
Freddie Mac data cited by NAR showed that the average rate on a 30-year mortgage remained elevated for much of the year but ended 2025 at 6.15%, its lowest level since October 2024. In the December data NAR released, existing home sales rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.35 million units, a 5.1% increase from November and the strongest pace in nearly three years, surpassing the 4.14 million annual pace economists expected in a FactSet forecast.
NAR also reported that home prices ticked higher in December. The median sales price rose to $405,400, up 0.4% from December 2024, marking an all-time high for December and the 30th straight month of year-over-year increases in the median sales price, NAR said.
Even with December’s improvement, NAR said inventory remains tight. The group reported 1.18 million unsold homes at the end of December, up 3.5% from a year earlier, but still below typical pre-pandemic levels of around 2 million homes for sale. NAR said that month-end inventory equaled a 3.3-month supply at the current sales pace, while a 5- to 6-month supply is traditionally viewed as more balanced for buyers and sellers.
Yun forecast that existing home sales will jump 14% this year, though other economists’ forecasts range from about a 1.7% to 9% increase. Economists generally expect mortgage rates to ease further in 2026, but NAR said rates are likely to stay above 6% on average, roughly double what they were six years ago. NAR also noted that many current homeowners who refinanced or bought when rates were lower may be reluctant to sell, which can keep inventory from expanding quickly.
Yun tied the outlook to what he described as “pent-up demand,” saying in the release that “the only way to get that pent-up demand back to the market is we need more inventory and we need better affordability.”