1st Look at Local Housing Markets in March
March sales will be mostly for contracts signed in December and January, and mortgage rates averaged 6.10% in January and 6.05% in February (lower than for closed sales in February).
A couple of local comments:
Las Vegas: “With mortgage rates rising since the conflict with Iran started, the housing market is facing some new headwinds …”
Pacific Northwest: “A continued rise in inventory, combined with renewed pressure from rising mortgage rates, defined Washington’s housing market in March as listings climbed sharply while sales remained largely unchanged.”
The NAR is now reporting earlier in the month than in previous years. March existing home sales are scheduled to be released on Monday, April 13th.
Closed Sales in March
In March, sales in these early reporting markets were up 2.4% YoY. Last month, in February, these same markets were down 0.6% year-over-year Not Seasonally Adjusted (NSA).
Important: There was one more working day in March 2026 (22) as in March 2025 (21). So, the year-over-year change in the headline SA data will be less than the change in NSA data (there are other seasonal factors).
Notes for all tables:
New additions to table in BOLD.
Northwest (Seattle)
Comparison to 2019 ONLY includes local markets with available 2019 data!
For the previous month, there were the same number of working days in February 2026 (19) as in February 2025 (19). So, the year-over-year change in the headline SA data was similar to the change in NSA data (there are other seasonal factors).
Sales in all of these markets are down sharply compared to March 2019.
This graph shows existing home sales by month for 2025 and 2026, on a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) basis. Last year, the NAR reported sales in March 2025 were at 4.02 million SAAR.
This early data suggests that March existing sales (as reported seasonally adjusted by the NAR) will likely be mostly unchanged year-over-year.
New Listings in March
For these areas, new listings were up 3.0% year-over-year.
Last month, new listings in these markets were up 5.5% year-over-year.
New listings in these markets are still down compared to March 2019, although there are significant regional differences.
Active Inventory in March
Inventory was up 12.0% year-over-year. Last month inventory in these markets was up 12.1% YoY.
Comparing to March 2019, inventory is mostly up in these markets (but mixed).
This was just several early reporting markets. Many more local markets to come!