Part 2: Current State of the Housing Market; Overview for mid-May 2026
Last week, in Part 1: Current State of the Housing Market; Overview for mid-May 2026 I reviewed home inventory and sales. I noted that the key stories this year for the existing home market are that months-of-supply was above pre-pandemic levels. And sales to date in 2026 are mostly unchanged from 2025 levels (lowest since 1995)!
In Part 2, I will look at house prices, mortgage rates, rents and more.
Lower mortgage rates led to a pickup in purchase mortgage applications in 2025 and early 2026, but that didn’t lead to an increase in sales. More recently, mortgage rates have increased due to the war and purchase applications have been soft.
House Prices
The Case-Shiller National Index increased 0.7% YoY in February and will likely be about the same in the March report (based on other data).
The Composite 10 NSA was up 1.5% year-over-year. The Composite 20 NSA was up 0.9% year-over-year. The National index NSA was up 0.7% year-over-year.
The National index increased 0.09% month-over-month (MoM) seasonally adjusted, This was the 7th consecutive month with a MoM increase seasonally adjusted, although the monthly increases have been decreasing.
The February Case-Shiller index was a 3-month average of closing prices in December, January and February. December closing prices include some contracts signed in October, so there is a significant lag to this data. So, not only is the year-over-year change trending down, but there is a significant lag to this data.
Let’s review some more timely house price data …
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