1st Look at Local Housing Markets in August
Tracking local data gives an early look at what happened the previous month and also reveals regional differences in both sales and inventory.
August sales will be mostly for contracts signed in June and July, and mortgage rates averaged 6.82% in June and 6.72% in July (somewhat lower than for closed sales in July).
Closed Sales in August
In August, sales in these early reporting markets were down 5.0% YoY. Last month, in July, these same markets were up 0.5% year-over-year Not Seasonally Adjusted (NSA).
Important: There were one fewer working days in August 2025 (21) as in August 2024 (22). So, the year-over-year change in the headline SA data will be more than the NSA data (there are other seasonal factors).
Notes for all tables:
New additions to table in BOLD.
For the previous month (July), tThere were the same number of working days in July 2025 (22) as in July 2024 (22). So, the year-over-year change in the headline SA data was similar to the NSA data.
Sales in all of these markets are down sharply compared to August 2019.
This graph shows existing home sales by month for 2024 and 2025, on a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) basis. Last year, the NAR reported sales in August 2024 were at 3.93 million SAAR.
The previous two months - June and July - and the next two months - August and September - will be the easiest year-over-year comparisons.
This early data suggests that the August existing sales (as reported by the NAR) will likely be lower than sales in July (SA) and will likely be mostly unchanged YoY.
New Listings in August
For these areas, new listings were down 3.9% year-over-year.
Last month, new listings in these markets were up 8.7% year-over-year.
New listings have slowed and are still down 22.7% compared to August 2019 activity.
Active Inventory in August
Inventory was up 26.9% year-over-year. Last month inventory in these markets was up 35.3% YoY.
Comparing to August 2019, inventory is up sharply in Denver and Nashville and down in San Diego. There are significant regional differences in inventory.
This was just several early reporting markets. Many more local markets to come!