What moved in real estate, Oct 26–Nov 1, 2026

Rates: 7.24%, the lowest of the month. Freddie Mac's weekly survey put the 30-year fixed at 7.24% on Thursday, down from 7.32% the week before and up from 6.17% a year ago. That's two dips in a row. The 15-year was 6.60%, down from 6.68%. On a $350,000 loan, principal and interest at 7.24% is about $2,385 a month, roughly $248 more than at last year's rate.

Prices and demand: sale prices dipped below last year. For the four weeks ending October 25, Redfin put the median sale price at $389,601, down 0.1% from a year ago. That's its first annual decline in more than three years. Pending sales were 276,352, down 15.9% and the lowest in Redfin's records. 21.5% of listings had a price cut, and the median monthly payment was $2,786, up 10.7%. Active listings were 1.51 million, up 2.2%, or about 4.5 months of supply.

The Fed: on hold, but a hike is still on the table. The Federal Reserve held rates steady on Wednesday. NerdWallet reports futures traders see a good chance of a hike at the December 9 meeting, and September inflation ran 3.7%. Mortgage rates have eased anyway, but that can reverse fast if the next inflation reports come in hot.

The older price data still shows gains. The Case-Shiller index put national home prices up 2.1% in August, up from 1.9% in July. Chicago was up 6.7% and Cleveland 4.3%. Case-Shiller runs a couple of months behind, so Redfin's flat sale-price number is the newer read on where prices are heading.

Locally, it was a quiet week. I didn't find any new Central Indiana housing data this week, and MIBOR's next report isn't due until November. The latest official numbers are still September's: single-family median price $320,000, up 1.3% from a year ago. The median home took 27 days to sell, up from 20. Active inventory was 7,405 homes, up about 16%, a 2.9-month supply, and pending sales were down 6.8% from last year.