Three U.S. Housing Signals for September

Pending home sales turned slightly negative yearly in the latest reading, ending an 8 mo streak of gains as higher borrowing costs cooled buyer momentum.
Contract signings also softened yearly, homes took 60 days to sell, and mortgage rates climbed from ~6% in Late-Q1 to the high-6% range recently.
Buyers gained some leverage: median list price slipped to $424.5K, price cuts reached ~20% of listings, delistings fell yearly, and active inventory ↑~4%.
Even with more listings, national inventory stayed ~11% below typical pre-pandemic levels, showing the US still faced a persistent housing shortage beneath current buyer hesitation.
Currently, experts are watching seller delistings, pricing strategy, and whether regional differences keep narrowing as buyers and sellers adjust to firmer borrowing costs.