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Economic and housing brief

We present headline national indicators and the Washington Metropolitan Area's labor and housing indicators. Each figure is shown along with a year-over-year comparison and its vintage.

As the 10-year Treasury Yield trends upward, 30-year mortgage rates have followed and are now above the 7% mark. Homebuilders are using concessions, compressing margins but maintaining gains in new home sales and steady new home supply. Existing home sale prices are stalling and inventories are rising as the large majority of outstanding mortgages have rates below 6%. The Washington Metro Area's jobless rate was steady year-over-year in July as many larger cities saw jobless rates easing. Washington's closed and pending sales as well as new listings fell in August, even as active supply was 11% higher year-over-year.

National economy

latest release of each series

Real GDP, quarterly

3.4%

annual rate · GDP $33.01T · -0.5 pp y/y

Q3 2026

Unemployment rate

4.2%

+0.1 pp m/m · -0.2 pp y/y

2026-09-01

CPI, 12-month

4.0%

+0.31 pp m/m · +1.0 pp y/y

2026-09-01

Core CPI, 12-month

2.8%

+0.03 pp m/m · -0.2 pp y/y

2026-09-01

Federal funds rate

3.88%

+0.13 pp m/m · -0.2 pp y/y

2026-10-01

Mortgage rate and 10-year Treasury

weekly and daily · 2026-10-29

30-year fixed mortgage

7.24%

was 7.32% last week · +1.07 pp y/y

2026-10-29

10-year Treasury

4.98%

constant maturity · +0.87 pp y/y

2026-10-29

Spread over Treasury

2.26 pp

78-week avg 2.11 · +0.20 pp y/y

2026-10-29

Mortgage, year ago

6.17%

current +1.07 pp y/y

2025-10-30
30-year fixed mortgage10-year Treasury
Dec 24Jan 25Feb 25Apr 25May 25Jun 25Jul 25Sep 25Oct 25Nov 25Jan 26Feb 26Mar 26May 26Jun 26Jul 26Aug 26Oct 263.6%5.6%7.8%

Housing activity and prices

United States

Housing starts

1,221K

-5.2% m/m · -7.4% y/y

2026-09-01

Building permits

1,398K

-0.4% m/m · -3.2% y/y

2026-09-01

New home sales (SAAR)

676K

-0.6% m/m · -5.3% y/y

2026-09-01

Existing home sales

3.99M

+1.5% m/m · -2.2% y/y

2026-09-01

New home median price

$400,400

+3.9% m/m · -3.9% y/y

2026-09-01

Existing median price

$417,500

-2.4% m/m · +1.3% y/y

2026-09-01

New home months' supply

8.4

-1.2% m/m · +2.4% y/y

2026-09-01

Existing months' supply

4.8

+0.0% m/m · +6.7% y/y

2026-09-01

Outstanding mortgages below 6%

77.6%

22.5% at 6% or higher · -2.3 pp y/y

2026Q2

New-home purchases using financing

95.8%

+0.9 pp q/q · +2.3 pp y/y

2026-07-01

New home sales: SAAR = seasonally adjusted annual rate, not sales in a single month.

Top U.S. homebuilders by volume

five largest public builders · SEC quarterly releases

Some new filings need review or could not be reached. Flagged rows show the last verified quarter.

Swipe to see quarterly results →

Builder2025 closingsLatest quarterQuarter closingsNet incomeHome-sale gross marginGross margin y/y
01D.R. HortonDHINew filing needs review87,168Q3 FY26 ↗Jun 30, 202623,983$904.9M20.7%-1.1 ppvs 21.8% year ago
02LennarLEN82,583Q3 FY26 ↗Aug 31, 202620,840$283.9M15.8%-1.7 ppvs 17.5% year ago
03PulteGroupPHMNew filing needs review29,572Q2 FY26 ↗Jun 30, 20266,997$472.0M25.0%-2.0 ppvs 27.0% year ago
04NVRNVR21,915Q3 FY26 ↗Sep 30, 20265,268$248.6M18.3%-2.7 ppvs 21.0% year ago
05Meritage HomesMTH15,026Q3 FY26 ↗Sep 30, 20263,187$67.8M17.4%-1.7 ppvs 19.1% year ago

Ranked by U.S. homes closed in the 2026 Builder 100 (2025 volume). Quarterly closings, company-wide net income, and unadjusted home-sale/homebuilding gross margin come from the linked company releases. Gross margin y/y is the change in percentage points (pp) from the same fiscal quarter a year earlier, not a percent change. D.R. Horton's prior-year margin is calculated from home-sales revenue and cost of sales in its earnings exhibit. Fiscal quarters differ; gross margin is before operating expenses and is not net profit margin. The annual ranking is fixed to 2025 closings. Quarterly figures are checked against SEC 8-K earnings exhibits every six hours; figures update only after the current and year-ago measures and the fiscal quarter validate. Last check: Nov 5, 2026, 6:32 AM.

Jobless rate, selected markets

Not seasonally adjusted · US rate 4.4%
July 2025July 2026
Atlanta3.4%3.2%
Charlotte4.2%3.7%
Miami3.5%3.7%
Austin3.6%4.0%
Washington4.1%4.0%
Philadelphia5.1%4.2%
Boston4.5%4.3%
New York5.4%4.3%
Dallas4.2%4.6%
Chicago4.7%4.9%
Jacksonville4.3%4.9%
Los Angeles5.8%5.0%
Seattle4.6%5.0%

Selected metro markets

Jul 2026
Metro areaJobless rateYear agoLabor forcePayrolls y/y
Austin
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX
4.0%3.6%1,568,798+1.7% n.s.
Bentonville / NW Arkansas
Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR-MO
3.5%3.6%330,934+2.6% n.s.
Charlotte
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC
3.7%4.2%1,482,142+1.4% n.s.
Jacksonville
Jacksonville, FL
4.9%4.3%847,772+0.4% n.s.
Washington
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
4.0%4.1%3,473,856−2.2%

July 2026 · not seasonally adjusted · US rate 4.4%, little changed on the year

Home prices by metro

year over year · 2026-08-01

National +2.1% · 20-city +2.6% · 10-city +3.6%

Chicago+6.7%
New York+6.2%
San Francisco+3.4%
Boston+2.6%
San Diego+2.3%
Washington+2.2%
Charlotte+0.6%
Atlanta+0.5%
Phoenix+0.5%
Portland+0.3%
Tampa-0.4%
Dallas-0.8%
Las Vegas-1.3%
Seattle-2.0%

Washington metro

July 2026 · not seasonally adjusted

DC metro jobless rate

4.0%

−0.1 pp y/y · 4.1% year ago

Jul 2026

DC metro payrolls, y/y

−2.2%

−73,200 jobs

Jul 2026

Washington DC-MD division, y/y

−3.8%

−44,000 jobs y/y · 5.2% jobless

Jul 2026

Frederick-Gaithersburg, y/y

−1.8%

−11,000 jobs y/y · 3.7% jobless

Jul 2026

Washington metro housing

Bright MLS · Aug 2026

Closed sales

3,872

−9.2% y/y

Aug 2026

Median sold price

$640,000

+2.4% y/y

Aug 2026

New pending sales

3,732

−11.5% y/y

Aug 2026

New listings

4,300

−3.8% y/y

Aug 2026

Active listings

11,280

+11.3% y/y

Aug 2026

Months of supply

2.73

+0.28 months y/y

Aug 2026

Median days on market

19 days

unchanged y/y

Aug 2026

Showings

82,793

−7.3% y/y

Aug 2026

Source: Bright MLS August 2026 Housing Market Report (Washington, D.C. metro; data as of Sep 4, 2026). Changes compare with August 2025. This is a manually reviewed public-report snapshot, not a live MLS feed. Closed sales are monthly transactions, not an annualized rate.

Next releases

dates marked ≈ are estimated
SeriesReleaseCovers
Metro area employmentSep 30 · outAug 2026
Employment situationOct 2 · outSep 2026
Consumer price indexOct 14 · outSep 2026
State employment and unemploymentOct 20 · outSep 2026
Metro area employmentOct 28 · outSep 2026
Read the vintages before quoting these together. GDP and the FHFA mortgage-rate distribution are quarterly, national indicators update at different intervals, and metro employment figures are manually reviewed against BLS releases. Check each date tag.

Notes

  • Housing-starts and new-home-sales estimates can be revised substantially; compare the latest release with prior periods before drawing conclusions.
  • Home price figures here are nominal; compare with inflation for a real-terms reading.
  • Metro figures are not seasonally adjusted; year-over-year comparison is the meaningful one.
  • Existing-home sales figures are sourced from the National Association of REALTORS® and reproduced here as reference only.

Sources