THE LISTING BRIEF · THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2026
The MLS war just moved from press releases to federal court. And on a quiet data day, lenders are rewriting the credit-score rules while rates catch a small break.
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• CRMLS sued Compass first, asking a federal judge to bless its office-exclusive rules.
• UWM now pulls two credit scores and prices off whichever is higher.
• Rates caught a small break: 7.56%, the lowest in over a week.
All values as of Thursday morning, ET.
| Metric | Latest | Change | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-yr fixed, daily (MND) | 7.56% | eased from ~7.60% Mon | Oct 6 |
| 30-yr fixed, weekly (Freddie Mac) | 7.28% | +0.25 wk/wk | Oct 1 |
| 15-yr fixed, weekly (Freddie Mac) | 6.60% | +0.18 wk/wk | Oct 1 |
| 10-yr Treasury | 5.31% | down from 5.34% Mon | Oct 6 |
| Median list price, national | $419,250 | -1.4% YoY | Sep 2026 |
| Active listings, national | — | +5.4% YoY | Sep 2026 |
| Months of supply | 4.9 months | +0.3 vs Jul | Aug 2026 |
| Avg days on market | 31 days (median) | +2 vs Jul | Aug 2026 |
| MBA purchase apps | -4% w/w, -14% YoY | — | Sep 30 (week ending Sep 25) |
TL;DR: One day before Robert Reffkin's 5 p.m. Tuesday deadline, California Regional MLS filed its own federal suit against Compass in the Southern District of New York. CRMLS is asking a judge to declare its office-exclusive cooperation rules lawful under antitrust law and to block the antitrust claims Compass threatened. Compass's Sept. 8 demand letter had threatened to "spend millions of dollars" suing CRMLS and other MLSs over fines (1% of list price, up to $2,500) for publicly marketing office exclusives without MLS submission.
Our take: This is now a federal court fight over how listings get marketed, and the rules your listings live under could change. If you market office exclusives or delayed-marketing listings, stay close to your MLS's guidance while the lawyers fight it out.
Your move: Check your MLS's latest guidance on office exclusives today. Don't assume last month's rules still apply.
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TL;DR: United Wholesale Mortgage announced it will now pull both FICO and VantageScore 4.0 on every credit pull and automatically use whichever score gets the borrower the best pricing. UWM says its internal research shows the change "could save many borrowers thousands" over the life of the loan. It follows FHFA's push toward a multi-model framework; Rocket made VantageScore 4.0 its default credit model last week.
Our take: This is a qualification story, not a rate story. Marginal buyers who sat just under a pricing tier may now clear it, which means a few of your sidelined buyers might be fundable again. Worth a call to your lender partner about which buyers to re-run.
Your move: Call your lender partner and ask which sidelined buyers are worth re-running under the new dual-score model.
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Rates eased. Buyers may follow.
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At the listing appointment, say this before anyone signs: "If we don't have two showings a week by week three, we revisit the price. Agreed?" Write it down. Decide it calmly now, not in a panic after three quiet weeks. Sellers who agreed to the trigger up front are the ones who let you lower the price without firing you.
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