The National Association of Realtors said September sales were revised to 3.97 million from 3.99 million. October’s total includes single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops. Gold reached fresh session lows in the minutes after the 10 a.m. ET release.

Sales fell month over month in the Midwest, South and West, while they were unchanged in the Northeast. Compared with a year earlier, sales declined in all four regions.

“Home buying is difficult when mortgage rates have climbed to their highest levels since 2000, aside from a single month in 2023,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said. He said sales had fallen to their lowest level since August 2010.

Yun added that the country’s 88 million homeowners were generally in a comfortable financial position because of accumulated housing wealth. Distressed-property sales remained historically low at 2% of transactions, he said. With job growth continuing but home sales subdued, Yun said lower mortgage rates could unlock sizable pent-up demand.