The July 2026 National Market Insights Report is now available. Here’s everything you need to share this month’s market insights with your sphere:

Don’t Miss! Our August All-Compass webinar is Next Wednesday, August 5 at 1pm ET / 10 am PT – click here to join. A calendar invite has already been added to your Compass Google calendar.

During this webinar, we’ll spend an hour covering the latest economic and housing market trends, recent changes and forecasts, and diving into your local market with a detailed look at trends across the country. I’ll also be joined by a special guest from Rocket Mortgage to discuss how our partnership, including Rocket Preferred Pricing, can help you better serve your clients in today’s market.

As always, be sure to stay ahead of the market by signing up for the Market Research Weekly Newsletter and following our weekly YouTube and Podcast update. Each week, I break down the latest housing trends, inventory shifts, and buyer activity, turning national headlines into local market insights you can use with clients.

Here’s to geeking out on all the data,

Mike

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All Eyes On The Fed This Week

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meets this week and the markets are forecasting a 40% chance that they hike short term interest rates. The likelihood of Fed rate increases in 2026 is still climbing. That’s one of the reasons that mortgage rates have surged to their highest levels in a year.

For most of the first half of 2026, conditions were modestly favorable for home sales to grow. Through the end of June, our count of home sales was 4% ahead of 2025. As mortgage rates have lurched back into the upper 6s recently, that is likely to slow buyer demand somewhat.

Data on the labor front could be a touch more favorable. Unemployment remains low, and we’re maybe seeing some slight improvements in hiring. The job growth rate has been very low recently, as companies resume hiring, hopefully this year, that should improve home sales with more work-driven relocations.

In the second quarter we discussed the “wealth effect” from stock markets at all time highs that helped buoy home buyer demand. In fact, Compass captured a lot of media attention last week with the news of the AI-company wealth-driven bidding wars in San Francisco. In June we counted 44 home sales in the city that closed at least $1 million above list price. That’s a shocking number and what’s more interesting is how concentrated this AI-boom is to the city. So far we haven’t been able to measure that demand spreading further out in the Bay Area or in other tech markets around the country. It’s extreme and it’s very local.

Also in this month’s National Economic Update, we have the latest data on the American homeowner’s very strong financial position, plus the latest on home prices and our inventory forecast for the rest of the year.

Our goal is always to help you understand what’s happening in the market right now, so you can make the best decisions.

Mike Simonsen

Chief Economist | Compass International Holdings

Compass National Market Insights Report - July 2026

Compass National Market Insights Report - July 2026