August 2026 Real Estate News
The real estate market appears to be cooling off a bit. According to a new report from the National Association of Realtors®, fewer homes went under contract in July compared with both June and the same time last year. Pending home sales were down 2.3% nationwide, with every region seeing a month-over-month decline. The West saw the biggest drop, with pending sales falling 4.7% from June and 7.1% from July of last year, but keep in mind that all real estate is local, some pockets are doing ok others are not, see local stats below.
On the economic front, there’s also plenty to keep an eye on. After Wednesday’s announcement that the Treasury Department plans to more than double its debt buyback program—from around $2 billion to more than $4 billion—investors began factoring in the possibility of higher inflation ahead. This comes as the 30-year bond has been trading at levels we haven’t seen since just before the 2007–2008 financial crisis. What does all this mean for us? In a nutshell, mortgage rates have moved higher.
All of this makes the Federal Reserve’s job even more challenging as it tries to balance keeping inflation under control while supporting employment. July’s weaker-than-expected jobs numbers had investors feeling fairly confident that there wouldn’t be an interest rate hike in September, although the odds of a quarter-point increase have now edged higher. The next inflation report is scheduled for August 26.
Weekly national mortgage rates for conforming loans, top credit scores:
30 yr. fixed rate | 6.77 |
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15 yr. fixed rate | 6.61 |
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