Existing home sales for April were sluggish — up by just 0.2% month-over-month, according to figures released by the National Association of Realtors on Monday.Earlier this year, there were signs that home sales were going to pick up in 2026, said Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS.“Mortgage rates were going to come down. Listings were on the rise. Affordability was starting to improve,” she said.That is, until the war ramped up. “The conflict with Iran, the conflict in the Middle East has created a lot more uncertainty and volatility than we had anticipated.”Mortgage rates, which had dipped just below 6% before the war, started ticking back up. That made it more expensive to finance a purchase and potentially created a sort of psychological effect on buyers, too, noted Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate.“Spring has not sprung for the home-selling season this year. It is essentially a stuck or frozen market right now,” he said. “We see flattish numbers, both month over month and year over year for sales of previously-owned homes.”The pace of these transactions is important — and not just for buyers and sellers of homes, per Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors.“Anytime there's home sales, people spend money on remodeling, trying to do additional lawn care service, and [the] actual act of moving, getting the moving truck, the mortgage origination,” he said.Which is why Yun said sluggish home sales are not good for the broader economy.
The Iran war has slowed a housing market that had been showing signs of life
In late February, mortgage rates had dipped just below 6%, listings were rising, and affordability was beginning to improve. Then, the war in Iran introduced a new round of uncertainty and volatility.
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