Home sales to jump nearly 10% in 2026
https://www.realestatenews.com/
A Fannie Mae forecast group is becoming more bullish in its prediction that 2026 will be the year home sales finally bounce back.
The organization's Economic and Strategic Research Group now forecasts overall home sales — new and existing — will be 9.2% higher at the end of 2026 compared to the end of 2025. Existing home sales are expected to be at an annualized rate of 4.446 million at the end of 2026, up 9.6% compared to forecasts for the end of this year.
EPAB President's Message
Resiliency
El Paso Home builders carry on despite challenges
Victor Robles - EPAB President
As we move into the final quarter of the year, the El Paso housing market continues to show resilience despite a variety of economic pressures. While national headlines focus on volatility, here in El Paso we are seeing strong demand for new homes, especially from first-time buyers and families relocating for work or military assignments.
Executive Message
Challenges Continue
Our country, industry face economic, social issues
By Ray Adauto - Executive Vice President, EPAB
September has shown itself to be a difficult month for interest rates, higher food prices, war, and political discord.
The Fed only dropped interest by twenty-five bases points, a ridiculously small, almost in-your-face drop. No one was happy, certainly not the builders or agents. At some point the Fed is going to have to stop keeping the rates high when all indicators are pointing differently.
On the economy, the price of food continues to be high, and that unfortunately is hurting people at home and in restaurants. I have noticed that while eggs dropped in price other commodities rose, killing any noticeable food price abatement.
New Home Sales Post Unexpected Large Gain
NAHB
A modest drop in mortgage rates led to a surprisingly large jump in new home sales in August that could be revised lower next month.
Sales of newly built single-family homes jumped 20.5% higher in August, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 800,000 from an upwardly revised reading in July, according to newly released data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. The pace of new home sales is up 15.4% from a year earlier. The three-month moving average of new home sales was 713,000, an increase from the 656,000 in July. New home sales remain down 1.4% on a year-to-date basis.
What the Fed Rate Cuts Mean for Housing, Economy
NAHB
After keeping rates steady through most of 2025, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee (FOMC) voted at its September meeting to cut its key interest rate by 25 basis points, bringing the target federal funds rate down to 4.25%.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell called it a “risk management cut” — a move meant to guard against growing uncertainty, rather than a response to a clear economic downturn. The decision follows signs of a cooling job market and moderating inflation. Job growth has slowed, unemployment has edged up (though it remains low), and inflation, while still above target, has been relatively contained.
Markets expected the move, and much of the impact was already priced in. Mortgage rates, for example, have already dropped slightly, with the average 30-year fixed now at 6.35%, down 20 basis points over the past month. The 10-year Treasury yield barely moved after the Fed’s announcement, reflecting how little surprise the decision carried.