September home sales were healthy, improving 10.4% over September 2024. Pending sales increased 14% year over year, showing a potential for continued momentum in Q4.

Our members report in this quarter's Market Pulse Survey that national macroeconomic concerns are still one of the biggest forces weighing on consumer confidence and slowing sales. A recently released CNBC Housing Market Survey showed that 72% of real estate agents said their clients expected mortgage rates to fall further.

The Federal Reserve update this week highlighted uncertainty about a December rate cut, a lack of data due to the government shutdown, and private sector layoffs. Following the announcement (as broadly expected) of the Fed's second rate cut, mortgage rates rose by around 14 points.

Context is important; despite the widespread media characterization of current mortgage rates as "high," the weekly average 30-year mortgage rate as of this writing is 6.17%, 0.55 points lower than this time last year.