Housing Market Update: A Little Spring Bump in Home Contracts 🌱🏡
June 26, 2025 — It looks like the spring housing market finally found a bit of its footing. After a choppy few months, pending home sales ticked up 1.8% in May, giving buyers, sellers, and real estate pros alike a small reason to smile. That’s also 1.1% higher than this time last year, so we’re starting to see some positive momentum.
If you’ve been following the ups and downs lately, you’ll remember that April was rough—with contract signings dropping 6.3%—so May’s bounce is a welcome change.
What’s Driving the Shift?
According to Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist at NAR, a few things are helping stabilize the market:
- Steady job growth
- Higher incomes
- And most importantly: mortgage rates that are still bouncing around, making buyers extra cautious.
Still, there’s hope. If rates ease up a bit in the second half of the year, we could see a stronger finish to 2025. For reference, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 6.77% the last week of June—not exactly low, but not panic-inducing either.
Bonus: Existing-home sales were up slightly in May too—by 0.8%, the first increase since February.
What’s Happening Around the Country?
The picture varies depending on where you are. Here’s a quick regional breakdown:
- 🧭 Northeast: A slight boost in activity—pending sales rose 2.1% from April. But with tight inventory, over 25% of homes are still selling above asking. Year-over-year, they’re down just 0.5%.
- 🌽 Midwest: Pretty flat month to month (+0.3%), but a modest 2.6% improvement compared to last year.
- ☀️ South: Contracts rose 1.0% in May and 2.0% year over year. Inventory is growing, which gives buyers a bit more wiggle room when negotiating.
- 🌄 West: This region saw the biggest jump—up 6.0% from April—but still slightly behind last year (down 1.2%). Inventory gains are helping, especially in places that were red-hot just a couple years ago.
Bottom Line
✅ Buyers are still out there—just more price- and rate-sensitive than before.
✅ Inventory is improving (up 20% from last year!), especially in the South and West.
✅ If mortgage rates dip later this year, expect more activity to follow.
So while it wasn’t the busiest spring ever, things are heading in the right direction—and that’s something we can all feel good about.
Source: REALTOR® Magazine
“Contract Signings Ticked Up Slightly, Capping Off a Sluggish Spring”
National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission
