Sixth District Home Sales Improved. In Florida, More of Them Closed Under the Ask.

Home sales improved moderately across the Sixth District, and more of those homes sold below the asking price, especially in Florida. Balanced inventory kept price growth stable. Sellers offered discounts and incentives. Homebuyer confidence was especially weak in the entry-level and move-up segments, and contacts said many buyers had difficulty qualifying for a mortgage. Some home builders expect that rate buydowns will remain a permanent sales tactic, and they expect that tactic to stay a long-term competitive advantage over resales.

That paragraph is the housing section of the Federal Reserve Beige Book published October 14, 2026. The Sixth District report was prepared by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. The book itself was prepared at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia from information collected on or before October 5, 2026. It summarizes comments from contacts outside the Federal Reserve System. The Federal Reserve describes it as a characterization of the change since the prior report, gathered from directors, interviews, and questionnaires. The contacts are a curated set of sources. The book is published eight times a year.

This page is that October 14 book. The survey dated September 2 is the earlier briefing. Statewide context stays on Florida markets. A purchase or a sale sits on residential. A building sits on commercial.

How the twelve districts lined up

Since the prior book, two of the twelve Federal Reserve Districts reported moderate growth in economic activity. Three reported modest growth. Four reported slight growth. Three reported no significant change.

The district highlights use those same words. Richmond's regional economy continued to grow moderately. Dallas expanded moderately, and the national summary says robust, broad-based manufacturing growth led that Dallas result. Cleveland's business activity increased modestly. The Sixth District grew modestly. St. Louis modestly increased. Boston expanded slightly. New York increased slightly, led by manufacturing. Philadelphia rose slightly, down from a modest increase in the prior period. Minneapolis increased slightly. Chicago was flat on balance. Kansas City continued to hold steady, in a pattern the highlight calls subdued conditions punctuated by pockets of strong demand. San Francisco was broadly steady.

Reports on other sectors indicate little growth overall. Most districts reported little or no change in overall consumer spending. Auto contacts noted flat to modestly lower sales in five of the six districts that reported. Over half of the districts noted that consumer spending was driven by high-income households. In Dallas, where firms reported solid retail sales, there were some reports of lower-income customers being more cautious with spending. Tourism continued to grow. Firms in the Boston, Minneapolis, and San Francisco Districts noted a decline in sales from Canadian tourists.

Most districts reported that firms have maintained a positive economic outlook for the coming months. Expectations tend to be for slight growth, weighted toward manufacturing and burdened by persistent uncertainties.

The national summary says another six districts, beyond Dallas, reported modest to moderate growth from their manufacturing firms, and the remaining five noted little or no manufacturing growth. In the Sixth District, manufacturing activity was stable. An apparel manufacturer there reported stable volumes and pricing and expects 2026 retail sales to be down from a year earlier. A large distillery and brewery reported demand flat to slightly down for the year. Strength in data-center construction, industrial-components fabrication, and advanced manufacturing offset a slight contraction in other manufacturing lines.

Employment was little changed

Most districts described little or no net change in overall employment levels. Three districts described modest increases. Five reported slight increases. Four reported no significant change. Labor supply was generally adequate to meet demand. Shortages persisted for specialized, technical, and skilled-trade workers. Five districts reported that some firms had reduced staffing through attrition, delayed hiring, or anticipated less job creation after raising productivity with artificial intelligence.

Wage growth in the national summary splits the same way the districts chose to describe it. Five districts described moderate growth in overall wages. Four reported modest growth. Two reported slight growth. Several districts noted that inflation has produced extra wage pressure, through cost-of-living demands from workers and through rising benefit costs. Staffing contacts in the Boston District said workers were motivated to seek new jobs as wage increases lagged inflation.

A Philadelphia retailer shared plans for a wage increase of 4 percent, up from 2.5 percent last year, and tied that plan to the cost of living, weaker labor availability, and an expectation that competitors would raise pay. That figure is one firm's plan. It is the contact's number in the Third District labor section.

The national payroll count for September is the separate employment situation. The Beige Book's employment lines are what contacts told each Reserve Bank through October 5.

Sixth District home sales

The economy of the Sixth District grew modestly over the reporting period. Employment levels remained flat, and wages continued to grow by low single digits. Prices and nonlabor costs rose moderately. Consumer spending, tourism, and transportation experienced slight growth overall. Commercial real estate and lending increased modestly. Residential real estate expanded at a moderate pace. Manufacturing activity was stable. Energy activity rose moderately. Agriculture was mixed.

On the housing line, home sales improved moderately across the district. Balanced inventory kept price growth stable overall. In comparison with other parts of the country, more homes in the district sold below the asking price, especially in Florida, and sellers offered discounts and incentives. Homebuyer confidence was especially weak in the entry-level and move-up segments. Contacts noted that many buyers had difficulty qualifying for a mortgage.

The builder sentence is the one a seller of an existing house should read twice. Some home builders expect that rate buydowns will remain a permanent sales tactic, as a long-term competitive advantage over resales. The book prints that expectation.

The weekly rate buyers are using after this book's collection window is Freddie Mac's survey of October 8, 2026: 7.40 percent on the 30-year and 6.73 percent on the 15-year. That survey is the separate note, the October 8 average. During the weeks these contacts were interviewed, the policy range was already the one set on September 16, 3.75 to 4.00 percent. That decision is the September 16 statement. Several districts in this book, Philadelphia among them, say rising mortgage rates in September slowed housing further.

The share of September contracts that came back to the market, and the metro sale prices in that file, are the separate October 12 pending-sales report. The repeat-sales price index for July is the separate FHFA note. The count of houses started in August is the separate housing-starts release. Florida housing-unit authorizations for August are the separate permit note. The school line and the non-school line on a homestead bill are the separate tax note.

Employment in the Sixth District was largely flat, and reports of layoffs remained limited. Shortages of specialized, technical, and skilled-trade workers persisted. Some professional-services and banking contacts were hiring for revenue-generating, customer-facing roles. Use of artificial-intelligence tools broadened. Most firms, as in previous reports from this district, did not expect those tools to lead to significant workforce reductions in the near term.

Most contacts reported moderate annual wage increases in the 2 to 3 percent range. Some noted continued wage pressure for skilled roles, and concerns among employees that cost-of-living increases were falling short in the current environment. Many contacts reported escalating costs for employer-offered benefits and insurance, much of which was being passed on to employees. A 2 to 3 percent wage band is what Sixth District employers told the Atlanta Fed. It is a contact range for the reporting period, and the September employment situation is the national earnings series.

Commercial real estate in the Sixth District

Commercial real estate conditions expanded modestly on balance. Demand for and supply of office space across classes was stable, though new space drew the strongest investor demand. Retail vacancies remained unchanged. Multifamily demand increased slightly and vacancy rates declined, although rent concessions were still widespread. The industrial sector saw a slight uptick in vacancies as new space came online, and data-center construction continued to drive growth.

Read those four property types as four different Tuesdays. An office owner in this district heard that demand and supply were stable, and that investors still preferred the new space. A retail owner heard that vacancies did not move. An apartment owner heard that demand rose slightly and vacancies fell, and that concessions are still widespread, so a lower vacancy rate can sit next to a free month. An industrial owner heard that new space coming online lifted vacancies slightly, while the projects still pulling the sector forward are data centers.

Lending fits that split. Loan growth was modest overall. Niche lending showed the strongest growth, in specialized consumer and business loans and in loans to non-depository institutions. Credit-card lending increased modestly. Other consumer loan types were unchanged. Some banks reported an increase in buy-now-pay-later financing, mostly for dining out and buying groceries. Construction and land-development lending expanded amid continued data-center buildouts. Several institutions exited the SBA lending market because of increased risk and unclear compliance requirements. Cash-to-total-assets ratios fell in tandem with a decline in bank borrowing, which the report reads as healthy profit margins in aggregate. Five districtwide mergers were announced, and the report says robust merger activity is expected to continue through year end.

Bank lending standards from the second-quarter loan-officer survey are the separate SLOOS note. The dollar total for construction put in place in August is the separate construction-spending release.

Transportation demand in the district rose slightly. Trucking demand remained soft, with some signs of stabilization driven mainly by industrial sectors tied to advanced manufacturing and data-center construction. Shipments of residential construction materials and consumer-related freight continued to lag. That is the construction split in one freight sentence: the loads moving are tied to data centers and advanced manufacturing, and the loads lagging are house materials and consumer goods. Freight forwarders reported increased volumes as business inventories rose and Asia-to-U.S. trade improved, excluding China. Railroads saw robust intermodal volumes and solid increases in total traffic from a year earlier.

On prices inside the district, growth remained moderate, with persistent pressure on input costs. Transportation costs grew notably as diesel prices rose, and demand for rapid delivery of items related to data-center projects strained freight and shipping capacity. Wholesalers increased inventory orders to hold down transportation costs, or they absorbed fuel surcharges in their margins. Construction inputs, particularly steel and mechanical equipment, saw more frequent upward price adjustments. Auto, liability, and health insurance costs continued to rise. Firms that received tariff refunds most often used them to offset other operating costs. Pricing power for retailers kept weakening, and most reported limited, surgical price increases.

Consumer spending expanded slightly. Strength in high-end retail offset flat or contracting demand in other value tiers. Discretionary spending continued to pull back, as rising fuel and food costs strained low- and moderate-income consumers. Restaurants reported reduced foot traffic, lower average spend, and more promotional pricing. New auto sales were largely flat amid declining consumer creditworthiness and elevated interest rates. A retail landlord on a Florida arterial is closer to that restaurant sentence and that value-tier sentence than to the data-center freight line.

Tourism grew slightly, and some contacts revised forecasts downward for the year. Hoteliers targeted luxury travelers to compensate for a slowdown in group and business bookings. Business travel still outpaced leisure. Economic uncertainty drove some firms to tighten travel budgets. One hospitality firm noted increased activity at its economy extended-stay hotels, which were being used as living arrangements for some families unable to rent or buy a home. International travel to the district saw a slight rebound and remained below historical norms. The extended-stay sentence is one firm. It is also the housing story in a different building: a household that did not clear a lease or a mortgage is in a weekly room.

Energy activity grew moderately. Consumer and industrial demand for diesel and gasoline remained solid. Decreases in global inventories related to the crisis in the Middle East and the conflict in Europe raised concerns about future supply. Contacts said American production remained resilient and cannot by itself support domestic and international demand. Refining contacts reported record margins, with limited international capacity pulling more demand their way. Scheduled maintenance for American refiners cannot be deferred past early 2027, which the contact said will likely constrain supply further and keep prices rising. Utility contacts described persistent strength in demand from AI-related infrastructure, even with many projects not projected to be operational until the late 2020s. The power demand is in the book now. The operating date, for many of those projects, is still years out.

Home sales in the other districts

The Sixth District's moderate improvement in home sales is one district's contacts. The other eleven describe their own windows.

Boston. Commercial real estate was roughly stable. Office leasing continued to rise slowly, and vacancy rates edged lower. Industrial leasing, rents, and vacancy rates were flat on average. Construction slowed somewhat, with weakness attributed to earlier overbuilding in Boston and to prohibitive costs in Providence. Rhode Island continued to see substantial public infrastructure construction. Financing costs increased and loan terms tightened. Commercial property foreclosures remained limited, alongside elevated rates of loan distress among urban office buildings. Closed residential home sales decreased moderately in August from a year earlier, on average. Massachusetts registered only a small decline. Sales fell sharply in Maine. Single-family sales rose modestly in New Hampshire, and condominium sales improved in Vermont. Median home prices increased modestly from a year earlier, and home inventories expanded somewhat. Apartment leasing was flat. Multifamily construction and sales were both down slightly. An advanced cutting-products manufacturer in the district reported significant revenue growth from investments in data centers, energy, and defense.

New York. Housing market activity was little changed. Persistently low inventory continued to limit sales and push prices higher, though listings continued to edge up in most of the district. With mortgage rates rising again, lock-in remained a key issue holding homeowners back from moving. In New York City, activity was concentrated at the high end, as buyers who had been waiting for lower rates began to capitulate, and inventory fell slightly. Rental markets strengthened, particularly in New York City, where rents remained near historic highs. A real-estate contact there noted that rising mortgage rates typically push more households into the rental market and expected rents to remain elevated. Commercial markets remained strong, led by office leasing in New York City. Manhattan office leasing continued at a brisk pace, with bidding wars for top-tier space. Sales of commercial properties slowed in recent weeks as rising interest rates reduced demand. Industrial demand remained strong, largely driven by data centers. Construction activity held steady after several months of strong growth.

Philadelphia. Existing-home sales continued to decline slightly. Contacts said rising mortgage rates in September slowed the market further: higher borrowing costs forced prospective buyers out, while the inventory of homes for sale remained low. New-home builders again reported a slight decline in sales and attributed the weaker demand to rising interest rates. One builder noted that most buyers first have to sell their existing house, which has become more difficult. Another contact reported that a large developer has started to walk away from some early-stage projects, and that an excess supply of homes built without secured buyers has led to steep discounting by competitors. Nonresidential construction again appeared little changed. Contacts reported continued construction by firms in the data-center and related manufacturing spaces, and little new activity elsewhere. Mortgage lending was flat. Commercial real estate lending ticked down slightly. Higher borrowing costs slowed demand for mortgages, which contacts said was already weak.

Cleveland. Residential construction and real estate activity increased modestly, and conditions varied by segment. Sales of existing homes rose. One contact attributed the increase to pent-up demand and noted that elevated mortgage rates continued to hold back a stronger recovery. Homebuilders said housing starts remained soft, which they attributed to rising interest rates, higher materials costs, and negative perceptions of the overall economy. Contacts expected a moderate decline in demand over the coming months. Nonresidential construction and real estate increased moderately. Several contacts said previously delayed projects had resumed, and heavy highway and data-center projects boosted activity. Rising interest rates, and uncertainty around tariffs and the conflict in the Middle East, continued to delay some construction decisions. One contractor reported that a local moratorium had led to the cancellation of a data center project. On net, contacts anticipated flat conditions in the near term. Selling prices in the district grew robustly. Nonlabor cost pressures remained strong for the eleventh consecutive period, driven by higher fuel costs and tariffs.

Richmond. Residential real estate saw renewed activity after Labor Day, with steady traffic. Brokers noted increased concessions on both new homes and resales, with buyers willing to pay the asking price when sellers cover closing costs or buy down the mortgage rate. A North Carolina broker observed that higher interest rates primarily affected the workforce segment, while stock-market performance affected retirement markets. Construction remained strong in certain pockets. Builders cited challenges with materials tied to data-center demand, and they said they could pass those costs to buyers when they were transparent that the increases were genuine. Commercial real estate continued its slow pace into fall. Brokers across the Fifth District reported more sellers entering the market. In Maryland and Virginia, suburban office markets continued to outperform urban ones. Industrial contacts expressed ongoing concern over data-center moratoriums. One contact's line on deal timelines was that time ultimately kills deals. A panel manufacturer expanded into a second facility to meet data-center customer demand.

Chicago. Construction and real estate activity decreased slightly. Residential construction declined a bit, with contacts pointing to higher mortgage rates and elevated economic uncertainty. Some homebuilders were offering more generous promotions on new single-family homes. Residential real estate demand decreased slightly, while prices ticked up. Rents increased slightly, helped by healthy demand for townhomes. Nonresidential construction was unchanged and remained at a robust level. Contacts said megaprojects were crowding out capacity for other projects. An equipment distributor said tech companies had tried to buy all the available electrical equipment for their data-center developments, and that suppliers had pushed back because of commitments to other projects. Commercial real estate activity was unchanged overall. Office leasing in government, medical, and higher-education space increased. Prices and vacancy rates were unchanged. In retail, low availability and high demand for prime space pushed rents up and led some tenants to move.

St. Louis. Residential real estate activity declined slightly. Inventory increased in the largest metro areas, and marketing times lengthened. A real-estate broker in Mississippi reported a roughly 2 percent year-over-year increase in sales volume and gross commission income across commercial, residential, and land transactions, with commission per sale unchanged. A small regional bank in central Kentucky noted strong housing activity alongside tighter financing conditions. Commercial real estate activity was unchanged. A developer in Memphis reported that regional industrial momentum tied to large automotive and advanced-manufacturing projects had not materialized as quickly as expected. Manufacturing gains in the district were driven primarily by stronger demand from national defense and from data-center and energy construction. Prices rose at a robust pace, and the increases were widespread.

Minneapolis. Construction rose modestly. Among several dozen firms, more reported recent revenue increases than decreases, and there was widespread concern over high and rising costs. A Wisconsin architecture firm said several clients cannot move ahead because of uncertainty and increased costs from tariffs and inflation. Commercial real estate was flat overall. Office vacancy rates increased. Office tenants were signing longer lease terms and looking for allowances to improve space. Retail vacancies were low in suburban markets and much higher in urban markets. Speculative industrial starts continued in Minneapolis–St. Paul. Residential real estate declined. Home sales in August were down in most major district markets compared with a year ago.

Kansas City. Commercial real estate activity rose moderately across several property types. Contacts then expressed heightened uncertainty, or expectations of softening, because of the recent increase in long-term interest rates. Many said more time is needed to assess the effect of higher rates on their deal pipelines. Prior refinancings, in which owners extended terms, brought additional equity, or moved to a floating rate, weighed on owners' willingness to take losses on sales. Market participants said access to credit diminished recently. Lenders reported that spreads on commercial real estate loans rose substantially, with expectations that spreads will increase further. Durables manufacturers pointed to military contracts and the data-center buildout as strong, and as crowding out other production. Firms have increased average hours, added overtime, and extended shifts because labor is limited.

Dallas. Activity in the housing market continued to be weak. Conditions remained challenging, and builders' margins remained under pressure from rising materials and labor costs. There were scattered reports of layoffs, and outlooks remained dim. Apartment demand remained solid, vacancy rates improved, and year-over-year rent declines have moderated, though concessions remained elevated. Class C properties faced challenges amid softer demand at the lower end. Office leasing remained moderate and was concentrated in top-tier assets. Industrial demand was characterized as healthy, though year-over-year rent growth was mixed. The labor section adds that data-center construction has been driving up labor costs and drawing workers away from other industries.

San Francisco. Residential real estate conditions softened modestly. Rising mortgage rates, elevated asking prices, and limited supply curtailed single-family sales. Supply continued to outpace demand in multifamily markets, though a large developer in the Mountain West observed vacancies slowly being absorbed and leasing concessions easing. Construction activity was stable, and project timelines shortened as fewer delays occurred. Commercial real estate was steady. Industrial demand was solid across much of the district and improved in Southern California, with rental rates flat to slightly higher. Office demand was sluggish. Retail leasing varied by region. Construction was stable overall and concentrated in data centers, governmental and infrastructure projects, and semiconductor factories and warehouses. A large contractor in the Mountain West said competition from data-center projects drove up pay for electricians and other skilled trades.

The data-center pause in Texas

New construction activity for data centers in the Eleventh District has tempered because of a regulatory pause implemented by the state of Texas. The pause has frozen permits sought by data centers until their impact on electric-grid reliability and on the state's water resources is audited. Developers are still finding it difficult to locate qualified workers, such as electricians and technicians, and building costs continue to rise for projects already underway. Water use by AI data centers has become more efficient, as developers increasingly adopt closed-loop systems and liquid-plate cooling. Public opposition remains a significant concern, potentially discouraging investment or delaying projects.

Put the Texas sentence next to the Sixth District sentence and they describe two stages of the same buildout. In the Atlanta district, data-center construction is still the growth driver in industrial real estate, still straining freight, still expanding construction and land-development lending, and still showing up in utility demand for projects that may not operate until the late 2020s. In Texas, new permits are frozen pending an audit of the grid and of water, while projects already underway still cannot find the electricians and are still seeing costs rise. One Cleveland contractor reported that a local moratorium had led to the cancellation of a data-center project. Richmond's industrial contacts are worried about moratoriums. Chicago's equipment suppliers pushed back when tech companies tried to take the available electrical gear. Kansas City's manufacturers said the buildout is crowding out other production. Together those contact reports are the construction split in this book: house demand is uneven and rate-sensitive, and the nonresidential work contacts keep naming is data centers, power, highways, defense, and advanced manufacturing.

Prices, diesel, and insurance

Three districts characterized overall price growth as robust. Eight noted that growth was moderate, and three of those eight noted that input-price pressures were intensifying, if not already growing robustly. One district reported modest price growth. Four districts reported that the pace of price increases picked up since the prior period.

Higher oil prices permeated all twelve district reports. Firms reported elevated diesel prices and said fuel surcharges were passing increased costs through the supply chain. Contacts in multiple districts also noted continued price pressure from other commodities, from tariffs, and from insurance. Consumer-facing firms noted tighter profit margins as price-sensitive customers continue to resist price hikes. Contacts are managing margins with selective price hikes, targeted incentives, and menu changes that reduce their costs. Firms in several districts cited persistent uncertainty around energy and tariffs and expect prices to increase further in the coming months, as existing contracts expire and firms renegotiate hedge contracts for their own inputs and delivery contracts to their customers.

Dallas said price pressures picked up, with strong growth, and that the higher price of diesel was the most commonly cited factor, hitting freight, agriculture, and airline prices and compressing margins. Retailers there were concerned about diesel and, for the most part, had not yet raised selling prices. Boston said output prices rose modestly, with home heating oil up sharply from a year earlier, and households expected to face considerably higher utility bills this winter. Construction costs there rose modestly. St. Louis described price increases as broad-based and strong. Businesses in that district expressed rising concerns about health-care costs. The Sixth District's version of the same pressure is moderate price growth, more frequent adjustments on steel and mechanical equipment, and auto, liability, and health insurance that continued to rise.

A Florida household meets those costs in a specific order. The mortgage rate is the Freddie survey. The insurance premium is the policy on the house they are buying, and this book says insurance costs are still rising for firms and, in the Sixth District, are being passed through in employee benefits as well. The tax bill is the millage on the homestead, school and non-school on two taxable values. Diesel and fuel show up in the goods they buy and, for anyone who owns a building with deliveries, in the surcharge on the freight bill. The book expects more of that pressure as old contracts roll off.

What to do with a Florida house or a Florida building

For a buyer in the entry-level or move-up range, the Sixth District sentence is that confidence is weak and that many buyers had difficulty qualifying. The qualification is the file: the rate on the October 8 survey, the taxes, the insurance, and the payment after any buydown a seller or a builder actually puts in the contract. A builder who treats the buydown as a standing offer is competing with the resale down the street. The resale seller who matches a closing-cost credit or a rate buydown is doing what Richmond brokers said buyers were willing to trade for: paying the asking price when the seller covers costs or buys down the rate. The Florida-specific line in this book is that more homes sold below the asking price here than contacts were seeing in other parts of the country, and that sellers were already offering discounts and incentives.

For a seller, price growth in the Sixth District was stable because inventory was balanced, in the words of these contacts. Sales improved moderately. The house still has to clear the buyer's payment. Philadelphia contacts described buyers who first have to sell a current house, a sale that has become more difficult, and builders discounting homes that were started without a buyer attached. Dallas builders described margins under pressure and dim outlooks. The Sixth District builders described a sales pace that improved, and a concession they expect to keep.

For an owner of a building, use the property type the Atlanta section actually separated. Office demand and supply were stable, and new space drew the investor interest. Retail vacancies were unchanged, in a consumer economy where high-end spending is carrying the slight gain and value tiers are flat or contracting. Multifamily demand increased slightly, vacancies declined, and concessions remained widespread. Industrial vacancies ticked up as new space was delivered, and data-center construction continued to drive growth. Construction and land-development lending expanded on that buildout. Several institutions exited SBA lending because of increased risk and unclear compliance requirements.

One hospitality firm in the Sixth District noted more activity at its economy extended-stay hotels, used as living arrangements for some families unable to rent or buy a home. That observation sits next to the qualification problem. The firm is one contact. The rooms are a different building from a data center, and those families are a different customer from the high-end retail shopper who is still spending.

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