Housing Market Update, Today's Key Data

Sources: Bankrate, Freddie Mac, MBA, BLS, Census, S&P Cotality Case-Shiller, University of Michigan, Treasury market coverage, BEA, Redfin, Realtor.com, NAR, NAHB, Federal Reserve

• Bankrate's August 31 buyer read has the national 30-year fixed mortgage at 6.73% and the 15-year fixed at 6.08%, holding the quote market in the high-6% zone
• Freddie Mac's August 27 PMMS has the weekly 30-year fixed at 6.66%, up 1 bp from last week, while the 15-year fixed rose to 5.98%
• Treasury's latest daily curve, published August 28, put the 10-year at 4.73% and the 30-year at 5.22%, with the 10s2s spread near 0.58 percentage points
• Redfin's August 27 weekly data (four weeks ending August 23) shows new listings up 0.4% week over week to 376,235, the highest level since April
• Redfin also says pending sales fell 1.1% week over week to 307,830, the lowest level since February, while active listings hit 1,504,085
• Redfin's median sale price rose 1.9% year over year to $400,649, while its seasonally adjusted median asking price was $394,353, unchanged year over year
• DOL's latest initial jobless claims print fell to 203,000 for the week ended August 22, down from the prior week's revised 207,000
• MBA's weekly survey says the 30-year fixed contract rate edged up to 6.78% for the week ending August 21 while total applications fell 1.0%
• Census says July housing starts fell 12.4% month over month to a 1.239 million annual pace, while permits rose 5.0% to 1.443 million
• Census says July new single-family home sales fell to a 607,000 annual pace from 678,000 in June, with 488,000 new homes for sale and 9.6 months of supply
• Single-family starts fell 9.9% in July to an 808,000 annual pace, while single-family permits rose 2.5% to 894,000
• S&P Cotality Case-Shiller's August 25 release shows June national home prices up 1.5% year over year, while the 20-city index rose 2.1%
• The Conference Board's August Consumer Confidence Index slipped to 89.4 from 90.2 in July, while its Expectations Index fell to 68.2
• BLS says July CPI rose 0.1% month over month and 3.4% year over year; core CPI rose 0.2% month over month and 2.5% year over year
• BLS says July PPI was unchanged month over month and rose 4.7% year over year, while final demand less foods, energy, and trade services rose 0.4% monthly and 4.7% annually
• Census says July retail sales fell 0.6% month over month to $763.6 billion, but were still up 5.0% from July 2025
• University of Michigan's preliminary August sentiment index fell to 51.0 from 55.2 in July, ending two months of improvement
• Realtor.com's July report shows list prices down 2.4% year over year, 20% of listings with price cuts, and 57 typical days on market
• NAR's August 11 release says July existing-home sales fell 1.7% month over month to a 4.06 million annual pace, while the median price rose 2.0% year over year to $431,400
• NAR's August 18 pending-home-sales report says July contract signings fell 2.3% month over month and 2.2% year over year
• NAHB's August builder read stands at 35, up from 34 in July, but remains below 40 for the 16th straight month; 35% of builders cut prices in August

Today's story: mortgage quotes are still high, while supply keeps giving prepared buyers room. Bankrate's August 31 buyer read has the daily 30-year mortgage average at 6.73%, Freddie Mac's latest weekly survey sits at 6.66%, MBA's weekly measure is 6.78%, the 10-year Treasury is at 4.73%, Redfin says new listings reached a four-month high, pending sales fell to a six-month low, and BEA says July PCE inflation held at 3.7% year over year. Prepared buyers should underwrite the current quote and negotiate structure.