Zillow: Pending Home Sales Drop 8.5% in Sluggish September
Zillow's September report signals a cooling housing market as pending sales slide and existing home sales slip 2.5% year-over-year.
The U.S. housing market entered an early winter in September, with newly pending home sales falling 8.5% — a forward-looking indicator that points to further weakness in closed transactions in the months ahead, according to Zillow's latest monthly market report.
Existing home sales declined 2.5% compared to the same period last year, Zillow's nowcast showed. Newly pending sales are considered a leading measure of market activity because they capture buyer demand before deals officially close, making the drop particularly significant for gauging near-term market direction.
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Mortgage rates remain a central pressure point weighing on buyer activity, contributing to the pullback in contract signings. Elevated borrowing costs have persistently sidelined prospective buyers who are unwilling or unable to absorb higher monthly payments relative to home prices that have remained stubbornly high across many markets.
In contrast, the rental market demonstrated resilience, posting its largest annual rent gain since April 2025, according to the report. The divergence between a slowing for-sale market and a strengthening rental sector suggests that potential buyers are opting to remain renters amid affordability constraints, which in turn sustains demand for rental units and pushes lease prices higher.
The September data collectively paints a picture of a housing market under stress heading into the traditionally slower fall and winter selling seasons. Continue reading at Economic News, Trends, Analysis.
