Existing homes sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.99 million in September, the National Association of Realtors reported October 13. That is up 1.5 percent from August and down 2.2 percent from September 2025. The median price rose to $417,500, the 39th straight month of year-over-year gains.
What a 3.99 million pace does and does not mean
The 3.99 million figure is an annualized rate, not a count of homes that closed in September. NAR takes the month’s seasonally adjusted sales and expresses them as if that pace held for twelve months. The NAR report counts single-family homes, townhomes, condos and co-ops from multiple listing service closings.
Single-family sales ran at 3.64 million, up 2.0 percent on the month and down 1.9 percent on the year. Condos and co-ops ran at 350,000, down 2.8 percent from August and 5.4 percent from a year earlier. Sales that never touch an MLS are not captured in these numbers.
NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said August and September were “the two slowest months for home sales this year” despite the small monthly gain. The September pace also sits below a year ago, so the monthly rise comes inside a weaker year rather than a clear turn. For an owner who decides to stay put, the open question moves to the tax bill, and whether any of the county reductions apply to that household at all.
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Prices keep rising in some regions and stall in others
The national median existing-home price was $417,500, up 1.3 percent from $412,300 a year earlier. Single-family homes had a median of $422,700, up 1.2 percent. Condos and co-ops came in at $363,700, also up 1.2 percent.
Regional prices diverged. The Northeast median reached $523,600, up 4.7 percent, and the Midwest $329,600, up 3.1 percent. The South was at $361,000, up 0.2 percent, while the West, at $613,600, was down 0.3 percent from a year earlier.
The West also posted the steepest annual drop in sales, down 5.2 percent to a 730,000 pace, even as it rose 2.8 percent from August. The Northeast ran at 470,000, down 4.1 percent on the year. The South, at 1.86 million, fell 0.5 percent, and the Midwest, at 930,000, slipped 2.1 percent.
The gap between regions is wide. The West’s $613,600 median sits about $284,000 above the Midwest’s $329,600, and the Northeast’s $523,600 is nearly $163,000 above the South’s $361,000. A buyer or seller national averages describe may not match any of the four.
More homes listed, longer waits, higher rates
Inventory reached 1.60 million homes, up 1.9 percent from August and 4.6 percent from September 2025. That equals 4.8 months of supply, the same as August and up from 4.5 months a year earlier. The median home spent 33 days on the market, up from 31 in August.
Freddie Mac’s average 30-year fixed rate was 6.86 percent in September, up from 6.67 percent in August and 6.35 percent a year earlier. Yun said “further increases in mortgage rates in recent weeks mean fewer buyers can qualify to purchase a home.”
NAR’s affordability index fell to 105.4 from 106.7 a year earlier. Among buyers, first-timers made up 31 percent of sales, cash buyers 27 percent, down from 30 percent a year ago, and individual investors and second-home buyers 20 percent, up from 15 percent in August. Distressed sales held at 2 percent.
Yun’s message to sellers followed from the inventory data. “Home sellers need to be realistic about local market conditions,” he said, as more listings and longer waits give buyers more room to negotiate. The national figure cannot say what a given street will bring.
What staying put costs once a sale is off the table
Owners who do not sell face a different set of numbers: assessments and utility bills. The Cook County Assessor shows how a fixed exemption works. A veteran with a service-connected disability rating of 30 to 49 percent gets $2,500 off equalized assessed value, 50 to 69 percent gets $5,000, and 70 percent or higher gets $250,000, which the assessor says can make a home totally exempt.
The Cook County exemption must be renewed every year, except for veterans rated 100 percent permanently and totally disabled. The normal filing period for 2025 has ended, and late applications now go in as Certificates of Error, which can also claim missed exemptions from 2021 through 2024.
Heating is the other recurring bill. Minnesota’s approved federal fiscal 2027 energy assistance plan sets heating assistance from $200 to $1,400, with winter crisis assistance capped at $600. Heating applications run from October 1, 2026, to May 31, 2027.
The Minnesota plan also funds an Energy Related Repair benefit for homeowners whose heating systems do not heat, do not distribute heat, malfunction or pose health and safety risks. That work can be started through July 1. Households facing a disconnection or an empty fuel tank get priority, and other applications are handled first come, first served.
Both programs hang on a date and a reapplication, while the sales data moves every month. A national pace of 3.99 million tells a seller the market is slow. It says nothing about what an assessment or a winter fuel bill will do to a household that stays.
Selling this winter, or staying and trimming the bill?
The sales pace answers whether to sell. For an owner who stays, the question is the assessment, and relief such as Cook County’s $2,500 and $5,000 reductions goes to owners who apply, then reapply each year.
The Senior Property Tax & Home-Cost Relief Kit picks up there. It lays out the 5 kinds of property-tax relief and the circuit-breaker credit that includes renters, with an application log and renewal calendar to track each filing date.
See the 5 kinds of property-tax relief in the home-cost relief kit →
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
