Redfin Reports New Listings Hit 4-Month High While Demand Slips, Giving Serious Buyers Chance to Get a Deal Done

Rhea-AI Summary

Redfin reports that for the four weeks ending August 23, 2026, U.S. housing inventory is rising while demand softens, creating stronger negotiation power for active buyers. New listings increased 0.4% week over week to 376,235, the highest level since April, and active listings rose 0.5% to 1.5 million, the highest since May. Months of supply reached 3.8, edging closer to the 4–5 months seen as a balanced market. Pending home sales fell 1.1% from the prior week and 3.1% year over year to their lowest level since February.

The median U.S. sale price climbed 1.9% year over year to $400,649, with a seasonally adjusted median monthly mortgage payment of $2,600 at a 6.65% average rate. Mortgage-purchase applications dipped 0.3% week over week and 5% year over year. Redfin highlights buyers’ markets in metros such as Miami, Nashville and many Texas cities, and notes that late August to early September is a favorable period for deals in several large metros.

Positive

• New listings 376,235, up 0.4% WoW and 6% YoY, highest since April
• Active listings 1,504,085, up 0.5% WoW and 1.6% YoY
• Months of supply 3.8, up from 3.7, moving toward balanced conditions
• Average 30-year mortgage rate 6.65%, lowest weekly average in a month
• Touring activity up 8% from start of 2026, indicating sustained buyer interest

Negative

• Pending sales 307,830, down 1.1% WoW and 3.1% YoY, six-month low
• Mortgage-purchase applications down 0.3% WoW and 5% YoY
• Median sale price $400,649, up 1.9% YoY, keeping housing costs elevated
• Median monthly payment $2,600 at 6.65% rate, limiting affordability
• Touring activity growth 8% vs 27% last year from year start, signaling cooler demand

Market Context

The housing update is best read against RKT's recent mixed news record: one event was followed by 1....

Analysis

The housing update is best read against RKT's recent mixed news record: one event was followed by 1.6% over 24 hours, while another registered -0.96%. Demand trends and rate sensitivity remain key watch points.

Key Figures

New listings: 376,235 homes Active listings: 1,504,085 homes Pending sales: 307,830 +5 more

8 metrics

New listings 376,235 homes Four weeks ending Aug. 23, 2026; up 0.4% week over week and 6% year over year

Active listings 1,504,085 homes Four weeks ending Aug. 23, 2026; up 0.5% week over week and 1.6% year over year

Pending sales 307,830 Four weeks ending Aug. 23, 2026; down 1.1% week over week and 3.1% year over year

Median sale price $400,649 Four weeks ending Aug. 23, 2026; up 1.9% year over year

Weekly mortgage rate 6.65% Weekly average 30-year fixed mortgage rate for the week ending Aug. 20

Median monthly payment $2,600 Seasonally adjusted payment at a 6.65% mortgage rate

Months of supply 3.8 months Four weeks ending Aug. 23, 2026; up from 3.7 months

Listings with price drops 20.8% Share of home listings with price drops during the four weeks ending Aug. 23

Historical Context

5 past events · Latest: Aug 25 (Positive)

Pattern 5 events

Date	Event	Sentiment	24h Move	Catalyst
Aug 25	AI product launch	Positive	+1.6%	Rocket Money launched Rowan, an AI financial assistant for selected Premium Plus subscribers.
Aug 24	FTC resolution	Positive	+1.6%	Resolution preserved the Redfin-Zillow rental partnership and enabled a standalone rentals business.
Aug 21	Housing market report	Negative	-1.0%	Redfin identified late summer as a favorable period for buyers to find discounts.
Aug 21	Home-sale cancellations	Negative	-1.0%	Home-sale cancellations reached their highest seasonally adjusted share since November 2023.
Aug 20	Advertising partnership	Positive	-4.0%	Rocket Mortgage became presenting sponsor and client partner for the 2026-2027 student competition.

24h Move is the share-price change in the day after each event; other market factors may also have contributed.

Pattern Detected

Recent positive announcements generally aligned with gains, while one partnership announcement diverged with a decline.

Key Terms

seasonally adjusted, mortgage-rate buydown, months of supply, sale-to-list price ratio

4 terms

seasonally adjusted technical

"Pending sales (seasonally adjusted) | 307,830 | -3.1%"

Seasonally adjusted means that figures have been modified to remove the effects of regular and predictable changes that happen at specific times of the year, such as holidays or weather patterns. This adjustment helps reveal the true underlying trend by making comparisons across different periods more accurate. For investors, it provides a clearer picture of whether economic activity is genuinely improving or declining, without the noise of seasonal fluctuations.

mortgage-rate buydown financial

"provide concessions like a mortgage-rate buydown or make repairs"

A mortgage-rate buydown is an arrangement where someone (often the borrower, seller, builder, or lender) pays money up front to lower the interest rate on a mortgage for a set period or for the loan's life. Think of it as prepaying part of the mortgage interest to reduce monthly payments temporarily or permanently; it matters to investors because buydowns change borrower affordability, loan cash flows, mortgage origination volumes and the pricing of related securities.

months of supply financial

"Months of supply | 3.8 | Up from 3.7"

Months of supply measures how long it would take to sell all available homes at the current sales rate. It is calculated by dividing the total number of homes for sale by the number of homes sold each month. A lower number suggests a faster market with high demand, while a higher number indicates a slower market with more choices for buyers.

sale-to-list price ratio financial

"Average sale-to-list price ratio | 98.8%"

The sale-to-list price ratio measures how much of a property's asking price is actually paid by buyers, expressed as a percentage. For example, if a home is listed at $300,000 and sells for $285,000, the ratio is 95%. This figure helps investors gauge the strength of the market: a higher ratio suggests buyers are willing to pay close to asking prices, indicating high demand.

AI-generated analysis. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.

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More homes are hitting the market, but fewer buyers are purchasing them, giving house hunters an opportunity to negotiate prices and ask for concessions

SEATTLE, Aug. 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- New listings rose 0.4% from a week earlier during the four weeks ending August 23 to their highest level since April. That's according to a new report from Redfin, the real estate brokerage powered by Rocket. The total number of homes for sale rose 0.5% week over week, hitting their highest level since May.

Pending home sales, meanwhile, fell 1.1% from a week earlier to their lowest level in six months. Would-be buyers are sitting on the sidelines largely because housing costs are high: The median U.S. home-sale price rose 1.9% year over year to over $400,000, and the weekly average mortgage rate is 6.65%—down from a peak of 6.69% two weeks earlier, but still near the highest level in 13 months. Some house hunters are also holding off due to economic uncertainty, with some waiting to see if mortgage rates come down in the next few months.

With inventory rising and demand declining, the homebuyers who are in the market could get a deal. It's a big-time buyer's market in much of the country, led by Miami, Nashville and much of Texas; in those places, buyers may be able to negotiate prices down and/or get concessions. A separate Redfin analysis found that late August or early September are prime times for buyers to score a deal in 11 U.S. metro areas, including much of California, Seattle and a pair of New York City suburbs.

"Buyers have an opportunity to get a deal done before the market potentially picks back up after Labor Day," said Chen Zhao, Redfin's head of economics research. "House hunters should consider homes that have been listed for several weeks; sellers of those homes may be willing to accept an offer under asking price, provide concessions like a mortgage-rate buydown or make repairs based on an inspection. Sellers should resist the urge to price based on what a neighbor got a year or two ago: Pricing a home correctly from the start can be the difference between attracting a serious buyer and lingering on the market."

For Redfin economists' takes on the housing market, please visit Redfin's "From Our Economists" page.

Leading indicators

Indicators of homebuying demand and activity
	Value (if applicable)	Recent change	Year-over-year change	Source
Daily average 30-year fixed mortgage rate	6.75% (Aug. 26)	Down from 6.8% a week earlier	Up from 6.61%	Mortgage News Daily
Weekly average 30-year fixed mortgage rate	6.65% (week ending Aug. 20)	Lowest level in a month	Up from 6.58%	Freddie Mac
Mortgage-purchase applications (seasonally adjusted)		Down 0.3% from a week earlier (as of week ending Aug. 21)	Down 5%	Mortgage Bankers Association
Google searches of "homes for sale"		Essentially unchanged from a month earlier (as of Aug. 15)	Essentially unchanged	Google Trends
Touring activity		Up 8% from the start of the year (as of Aug. 15)	At this time last year, it was up 27% from the start of 2025	ShowingTime

Key housing-market data

U.S. highlights: Four weeks ending Aug. 23, 2026 Redfin's national metrics include data from 900+ U.S. metro areas and are based on homes listed and/or sold during the period. Weekly housing-market data goes back through 2021. Subject to revision.
	Four weeks ending Aug. 23, 2026	Year-over-year change	Week-over-week change (where applicable)	Notes
Median sale price	$400,649	1.9 %
Median asking price (seasonally adjusted)	$394,353	Unchanged
Median monthly mortgage payment (seasonally adjusted)	$2,600 at a 6.65% mortgage rate	0.6 %
Pending sales (seasonally adjusted)	307,830	-3.1 %	-1.1 %	Lowest level since February
New listings (seasonally adjusted)	376,235	6 %	0.4 %	Highest level since April
Active listings (seasonally adjusted)	1,504,085	1.6 %	0.5 %
Months of supply	3.8	Up from 3.7		4 to 5 months of supply is considered balanced, with a lower number indicating seller's market conditions
Share of homes off market in two weeks	30.8 %	Essentially unchanged
Median days on market	44	Unchanged
Share of home listings with price drops	20.8 %	Essentially unchanged
Share of homes sold above list price	26.3 %	Up from about 25%
Average sale-to-list price ratio	98.8 %	Up from 98.6%

 

Metro-level highlights: Four weeks ending Aug. 23, 2026 Redfin's metro-level rankings data includes the 50 most populous U.S. metros. Select metros may be excluded from time to time to ensure data accuracy.
	Metros with biggest year- over-year increases	Metros with biggest year- over-year decreases	Notes
Median sale price	West Palm Beach, FL (10.2%) Newark, NJ (8.9%) Pittsburgh (7.9%) Cleveland (7.5%) Milwaukee (7.2%)	Seattle (-4.6%) Austin, TX (-3.7%) Fort Worth, TX (-1.7%) San Jose, CA (-1.7%) Houston (-1.5%)
Pending sales	West Palm Beach, FL (4.7%) Milwaukee (4.3%) San Francisco (3.3%) St. Louis (2.4%) Cincinnati (2.2%)	Seattle (-18.1%) Houston (-15.3%) Denver (-13.2%) San Diego (-12.9%) Atlanta (-10.6%)
New listings	Virginia Beach, VA (14.3%) San Jose, CA (13.3%) Boston (9%) St. Louis (8.9%) Seattle (8.9%)	Dallas (-12.3%) Atlanta (-9.4%) San Antonio (-4.6%) Columbus, OH (-4.2%) Jacksonville, FL (-4.2%)

To view the full report, including charts, please visit: https://www.redfin.com/news/housing-market-update-new-listings-rise-buyers-market/ 

About Redfin 
Redfin is a technology-driven real estate company with the country's most-visited real estate brokerage website. As part of Rocket Companies (NYSE: RKT), Redfin is creating an integrated homeownership platform from search to close to make the dream of homeownership more affordable and accessible for everyone. Redfin's clients can see homes first with on-demand tours, easily apply for a home loan with Rocket Mortgage, and save thousands in fees while working with a top local agent.

You can find more information about Redfin and get the latest housing market data and research at https://www.redfin.com/news. For more information about Rocket Companies, visit https://www.rocketcompanies.com.

Contact Redfin Journalist Services: 
Emily Rubin
press@redfin.com

 

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/redfin-reports-new-listings-hit-4-month-high-while-demand-slips-giving-serious-buyers-chance-to-get-a-deal-done-302861470.html

SOURCE Redfin

FAQ

What does Redfin’s August 27, 2026 housing report mean for Rocket (RKT) investors?

The report shows rising listings and softer demand, indicating a cooler but more balanced housing market. According to Redfin, higher inventory and high but stable mortgage rates may influence mortgage origination volumes, which are closely watched by Rocket (RKT) shareholders.

How did new home listings change in Redfin’s latest report relevant to RKT on August 27, 2026?

New listings rose 0.4% week over week and 6% year over year to 376,235, the highest since April. According to Redfin, more inventory can support transaction volumes, an important backdrop for mortgage-focused companies like Rocket (RKT).

What are the current U.S. home prices and mortgage payments in Redfin’s August 2026 data?

The median U.S. sale price is $400,649, up 1.9% year over year, and the median monthly mortgage payment is about $2,600 at a 6.65% rate. According to Redfin, these elevated costs keep affordability constrained for many buyers.

How weak is homebuyer demand in Redfin’s August 23, 2026 snapshot?

Pending sales fell to 307,830, down 1.1% week over week and 3.1% year over year, the lowest level since February. According to Redfin, mortgage-purchase applications also declined 0.3% weekly and 5% annually, reflecting softer demand.

Are mortgage rates improving for U.S. homebuyers according to Redfin’s late-August 2026 report?

The weekly average 30-year mortgage rate is 6.65%, the lowest in about a month but still high historically. According to Redfin, daily rates around 6.75% keep payments elevated even as they edge down from recent peaks.

Which U.S. metros show the biggest price changes in Redfin’s August 23, 2026 data?

According to Redfin, West Palm Beach leads price gains at 10.2%, followed by Newark and Pittsburgh. Seattle shows the largest year-over-year price decline at 4.6%, with Austin, Fort Worth, San Jose and Houston also recording modest decreases.

Is it currently a buyer’s market in many U.S. metros, based on Redfin’s August 2026 update?

Redfin describes a strong buyer’s market in much of the country, especially Miami, Nashville and many Texas metros. According to Redfin, rising inventory and slower demand give active buyers more room to negotiate prices and concessions.