The Iran war is a major factor pushing up mortgage rates. Some would-be buyers are backing off amid high costs and uncertainty stemming from the war.
The median U.S. monthly mortgage payment is $2,742, up 0.4% year over year. While that’s a small increase, it’s the first in nearly six months.
Housing payments are climbing because the Iran war and rising oil prices have pushed the weekly average mortgage rate up to a six-month high of 6.38%. Daily average mortgage rates rose as high as 6.64% at the end of last week. Home-sale prices are a factor, too; the median home-sale price rose 2.1% from a year earlier during the four weeks ending March 29–the biggest uptick in a year.
High costs, along with economic uncertainty from the Iran war, have sidelined some would-be homebuyers. Pending home sales declined 1.2% year over year, and mortgage-purchase applications fell 3% week over week. The typical home spends 53 days on the market before going under contract, five days longer than last year.
On the selling side, new listings are ticking up; they rose 1.7% year over year. Overall, there are 630,000 more home sellers than buyers in the market–the biggest gap in records dating back to 2013. Redfin agents say that with more sellers than buyers in most metro areas, it’s more important than ever for sellers to prepare their home to make a strong first impression.
“My advice for sellers is to remember you’re selling the dream of homeownership,” said Hazel Shakur, a Redfin Premier agent in the Washington, D.C. area. “When house hunters walk through the door, it should look good, smell good and give the impression that every room is orderly. Buyers should be able to visualize what life is going to be like living in the home. And it goes beyond cosmetics: Some buyers are walking away during the inspection period if they uncover an issue, so sellers should make sure they have taken care of basic maintenance and repairs before listing.”
For Redfin economists’ takes on the housing market, please visit Redfin’s “From Our Economists” page.
Leading indicators
| Indicators of homebuying demand and activity | ||||
| Value (if applicable) | Recent change | Year-over-year change | Source | |
| Daily average 30-year fixed mortgage rate | 6.45% (April 1) | Up from 4-year low of 5.99% a month earlier | Down from 6.82% | Mortgage News Daily |
| Weekly average 30-year fixed mortgage rate | 6.38% (week ending March 26) | Highest level in 6 months | Down from 6.67% | Freddie Mac |
| Mortgage-purchase applications (seasonally adjusted) | Down 3% from a week earlier (as of week ending March 27) | Up 1% | Mortgage Bankers Association | |
| Google searches of “homes for sale” | Up 20% from a month earlier (as of March 30) | Up 20% | Google Trends | |
| Touring activity | Up 25% from the start of the year (as of March 30) | At this time last year, it was up 36% from the start of 2025 | ShowingTime | |
| Redfin’s Homebuyer Demand Index was removed this week to ensure data accuracy. | ||||
Key housing-market data
| U.S. highlights: Four weeks ending March 29, 2026 Redfin’s national metrics include data from 400+ U.S. metro areas and are based on homes listed and/or sold during the period. Weekly housing-market data goes back through 2015. Subject to revision. | |||
| Four weeks ending March 29, 2026 | Year-over-year change | Notes | |
| Median sale price | $391,475 | 2.1% | Biggest increase in a year |
| Median asking price | $424,975 | 2.5% | |
| Median monthly mortgage payment | $2,742 at a 6.38% mortgage rate | 0.3% | First increase since October 2025 |
| Pending sales | 86,642 | -1.2% | Biggest decline in over a month |
| New listings | 102,768 | 1.7% | |
| Active listings | 1,068,411 | -1.7% | Biggest decline since 2023 |
| Months of supply | 4.5 | +0.2 pts. | 4 to 5 months of supply is considered balanced, with a lower number indicating seller’s market conditions |
| Share of homes off market in two weeks | 37.4% | Essentially unchanged | |
| Median days on market | 53 | +5 days | |
| Share of homes sold above list price | 23.2% | Down from 25% | |
| Average sale-to-list price ratio | 98.4% | Down from 98.5% | |
Metro-level highlights: Four weeks ending March 29, 2026 Redfin’s metro-level data includes the 50 most populous U.S. metros. Select metros may be excluded from time to time to ensure data accuracy. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Metros with biggest year-over-year increases | Metros with biggest year-over-year decreases | Notes | |
| Median sale price | San Francisco, CA (12.6%) Detroit (10.1%) Cincinnati (8.7%) Milwaukee (8.7%) Baltimore (6.9%) | Oakland, CA (-4.1%) Dallas (-3.4%) Austin, TX (-2%) West Palm Beach, FL (-1.8%) Houston (-1.8%) | Declined in 12 metros |
| Pending sales | San Francisco (25%) West Palm Beach, FL (22.8%) Milwaukee (12.4%) Austin, TX (10%) Miami (8.5%) | New Brunswick, NJ (-15.8%) Providence, RI (-15.6%) New York (-15.1%) Houston (-14.4%) Nassau County, NY (-13.5%) | |
| New listings | Milwaukee, WI (15.9%) Philadelphia (9.7%) Boston (8.5%) Washington, D.C. (7.7%) San Francisco (7.6%) | Tampa, FL (-15.7%) Providence, RI (-14.1%) Miami (-11.2%) Jacksonville, FL (-10%) Riverside, CA (-8.2%) | |
Refer to our metrics definition page for explanations of all the metrics used in this report.
