The annual pace of existing-home sales edged up to a seasonally adjusted 4.1 million units in October, rising 1.2% monthly and 1.7% year over year, according to newly released figures from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

October’s moderate increase in sales extends gains made in September, when the pace of existing-home sales rose 1.5% from August and 4.1% from September 2024.

The median existing-home sales price was 2.1% higher annually in October at $415,200.

“Home sales increased in October even with the government shutdown due to homebuyers taking advantage of lower mortgage rates,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist of NAR, in a press release announcing the monthly results.

NAR reported that 32% of existing-home sales in October went to first-time homebuyers, an increase from 30% in July and 27% a year ago.

Yun noted that first-time homebuyers “fared better” in the Midwest and South due to more affordable and plentiful housing supply, while struggling in the Northeast due to low supply and in the West on account of high home prices.

Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at the listing platform Bright MLS, said in a statement provided to Scotsman Guide that “affordability and uncertainty continue to be the two big headwinds in the housing market at the end of 2025.”

She expects annual existing-home sales to end 2025 only slightly higher than 2024’s pace of 4.06 million units, a three-decade low.

Regionally, median October sales prices rose 6.5% year over year in the Northeast and 4.6% in the Midwest, while rising just 0.3% in South and 0.1% in the West.

Total for-sale inventory declined 0.7% from September to 1.52 million units, a 4.4-month supply of homes that remained nearly 11% higher from a year ago.

Yun added that decelerating rents signal the downward trajectory for longer-run inflation, which will “encourage the Federal Reserve to continue cutting rates and pulling back their quantitative tightening.”