Kevin Sears President | Official website
Pending home sales in the United States fell by 9.3% in December compared to the previous month and declined 3.0% year over year, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Pending Home Sales Report released on January 21, 2026. The report provides data on homes under contract, serving as an early indicator for future sales.
All four regions experienced month-over-month declines in pending home sales. Year-over-year, only the South saw an increase, while the Northeast, Midwest, and West reported decreases.
NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun stated, “The housing sector is not out of the woods yet. After several months of encouraging signs in pending contracts and closed sales, the December new contract figures have dampened the short-term outlook.”
Yun added that interpreting winter home search activity can be challenging due to holidays and weather: “Even after accounting for typical seasonal patterns, interpreting in-person home search activity in the winter – especially in December – can be tricky due to public holidays, people taking time off, and wintry weather conditions. We’ll be watching the data in the coming months to determine whether the soft contract signings were a one-month aberration or the start of an underlying trend.”
He also noted that closing activity increased but inventory did not keep pace: “Data shows closing activity increased in December. However, new listings did not keep pace so inventory decreased. Consumers prefer seeing abundant inventory before making the major decision of purchasing a home. So, the decline in pending home sales could be a result of dampened consumer enthusiasm about buying a home when there are so few options listed for sale. In December there were only 1.18 million homes on the market – matching the lowest inventory level of 2025.”
Regionally for December 2025:
- The Northeast had an 11.0% decrease month over month and a 3.6% decrease year over year.
- The Midwest posted a 14.9% decrease month over month and a 9.8% decrease year over year.
- The South recorded a 4.0% decrease month over month but a 2.0% increase year over year.
- The West saw a 13.3% decrease month over month and a 5.1% decrease year over year.
Despite national declines, some local markets among the largest metro areas showed notable annual gains in pending home sales: Louisville/Jefferson County (+23.8%), San Antonio–New Braunfels (+13.6%), Virginia Beach–Chesapeake–Norfolk (+11%), Charlotte–Concord–Gastonia (+9.7%), Boston–Cambridge–Newton (+9.2%), Phoenix–Mesa–Chandler (+8.7%), Oklahoma City (+8%), Miami–Fort Lauderdale–West Palm Beach (+6.3%), Pittsburgh (+5.8%) and Memphis (+4.7%).
According to NAR’s REALTORS Confidence Index survey for December:
- Properties spent a median of 39 days on market.
- First-time buyers made up 29% of sales.
- Cash transactions accounted for 28%.
- Individual investors or second-home buyers represented 18%.
- Distressed sales remained at 2%.
- Expectations for buyer traffic increased among NAR members to 31%, with seller traffic expectations rising to 28%.
The National Association of Realtors serves as a leading trade group supporting real estate professionals across residential and commercial sectors through research, education, advocacy efforts and resources such as statistics and news updates (official website). It includes around 1,200 local boards and associations nationwide (official website) and has headquarters in Chicago with another office in Washington D.C (official website). Founded originally as the National Association of Real Estate Exchanges in 1908 (official website), NAR works to uphold ethical standards while promoting diversity within its membership (official website).
The Pending Home Sales Index tracks signed contracts before transactions close—usually within one or two months—and covers about forty percent of multiple listing service data each month.
Existing-home sales data for January will be released February 12; next month's Pending Home Sales Index will be available February 19.
