Pending Home Sales Barely Budge, As Buyers Stay Cautious Despite Lower Mortgage Rates

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Pending Home Sales Barely Budge, As Buyers Stay Cautious Despite Lower Mortgage Rates

Published on November 6th, 2025 by Dana Anderson

 

 

 

Homes are selling at the slowest pace for this time of year since 2019. 

U.S. pending home sales ticked up 0.7% year over year during the four weeks ending November 2, the smallest increase in four months. Homes are also taking longer to sell: The typical home that sold in October went under contract in 48 days, the longest span for that month since 2019. 

Home sales are slow despite declining mortgage rates. The weekly average mortgage rate has fallen to 6.17%, its lowest level in a year, pushing the median monthly housing payment down to $2,508, down 2.1% from a year ago. 

There are a few reasons homebuyers aren’t biting on lower rates. Sale prices are still rising, posting their biggest increase in six months, and many house hunters are hesitant to make a major purchase amid widespread economic uncertainty. Additionally, mortgage rates have already started ticking back up as markets respond to the Fed signaling that a December rate cut is far from guaranteed. 

“Most house hunters aren’t flat-out stopping their search; instead, they’re being picky and looking for the perfect home,” said Rebecca Love, a Redfin Premier agent in Washington, D.C. “Buyers are ultra-cautious with their funds because they’re worried about interest rates, the economy, and potentially losing their job. If they’re going to spend money, they want to check every box–and at the same time, they want a good deal. That means searches are taking longer than usual.”

On the selling side, listings are holding steady. New listings are up 4% year over year, similar to the increases we’ve seen over the last several weeks. 

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	6.37% (Nov. 5)	Up from 6.13% a week earlier	Down from 7.09%	Mortgage News Daily
Weekly average 30-year fixed mortgage rate	6.17% (week ending Oct. 30)	Lowest level in over a year	Down from 6.95%	Freddie Mac
Mortgage-purchase applications (seasonally adjusted)		Down 1% from a week earlier (as of week ending Oct. 31)	Up 26%	Mortgage Bankers Association
Redfin Homebuyer Demand Index		Up about 3% from a month earlier (as of week ending Nov. 2)	Down 9%	A measure of tours and other homebuying services from Redfin agents
Google searches of “homes for sale”		Up about 20% from a month earlier (as of Nov. 2)	Up more than 20%	Google Trends
Touring activity		Up 7% from the start of the year (as of Nov. 2)	At this time last year, it was down 4% from the start of 2024	ShowingTime

Key housing-market data

 

U.S. highlights: Four weeks ending Nov. 2, 2025   Redfin’s national metrics include data from 400+ U.S. metro areas and are based on homes listed and/or sold during the period. Weekly housing-market data goes back through 2015. Subject to revision.
	Four weeks ending Nov. 2, 2025	Year-over-year change	Notes
Median sale price	$392,375	2%	Biggest increase in 6 months
Median asking price	$395,500	2.9%	Biggest increase in 5 months
Median monthly mortgage payment	$2,508 at a 6.17% mortgage rate	-2.1%	Lowest level since start of the year, and biggest decline in nearly a year
Pending sales	76,431	0.7%	Smallest increase in 4 months
New listings	83,408	4%
Active listings	1,198,934	6.7%	Smallest increase since Feb. 2024
Months of supply	4.7	+0.5 pts.	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	29%	Down from 31%
Median days on market	48	+6 days
Share of homes sold above list price	22.8%	Down from 26%
Average sale-to-list price ratio	98.3%	Down from 98.7%

Metro-level highlights: Four weeks ending Nov. 2, 2025 Redfin’s metro-level 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	Detroit (11.6%)   Newark, NJ (9.8%) Cleveland (9.6%) Milwaukee (7.4%) Philadelphia (6.9%)	Jacksonville, FL (-3.5%)   Dallas (-3.3%) San Antonio (-2.2%) Riverside, CA (-2.1%) San Diego (-2%)	Declined in 16 metros
Pending sales	West Palm Beach, FL (22.8%)   Tampa, FL (16.2%) Fort Lauderdale, FL (12.2%) San Francisco (11.3%) Orlando, FL (10.2%)	Seattle (-16.8%)   San Jose, CA (-11.1%) San Antonio (-9.3%) Minneapolis (-9.1%) Denver (-8.3%)
New listings	Tampa, FL (16.4%)   Phoenix (14.1%) Montgomery County, PA (13%) West Palm Beach, FL (12%) Philadelphia (9.7%)	Sacramento, CA (-8.8%)   Dallas (-8.6%) Denver (-8.5%) San Antonio (-7.6%) Anaheim, CA (-7.5%)

Refer to our metrics definition page for explanations of all the metrics used in this report.

 

 

 

Dana Anderson

 

As a data journalist at Redfin, Dana Anderson writes about the numbers behind real estate trends. Redfin is a full-service real estate brokerage that uses modern technology to make clients smarter and faster. For more information about working with a Redfin real estate agent to buy or sell a home, visit our Why Redfin page.