The shock of Hurricane Helene’s devastation and a hotly congested presidential election sucked some of the oxygen out of September’s housing market on a month-over-month comparison. Pending sales were down 7.3% from August and many Realtors are reporting slower traffic on both the sellers’ and buyers’ side.

NETAR’s pending sales index dropped to its lowest point in seven months in September. The bright spot is pending sales are 16.9% better than they were this time last year and new contracts for homes in the affordable price range are up 13.%.

Pending sales are a leading indicator of housing activity based on signed contracts for existing single-family home and condominium sales in the region monitored by NETAR. Since resales go under contract 30 to 60 days before they close, pending sales offer insight into the market’s direction.  

Pending sales activity increased from last year’s levels in all three of the region’s markets by price range.

There were 285 in the affordable price range, up 13.1%.

The luxury market has 90 pending sales, up 28.6% from last year.

Active inventory increased 31.8% last month. That gave the region 3.7 months of inventory – the best it has been since 2020.