Published October 4, 2026 in Market Update

Primary DOTW has more choices, but buyers are still writing offers

By James Hemphill Jr.

Real estate, Primary DOTW

The one fact that changes what you should do right now: the Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 1,612 homes for sale across Primary DOTW in the three months ending July 31, 2026. That is up 31% from a year before. More choices for buyers means more competition for sellers. Price and prep matter more than they did twelve months ago.

Here is the honest part: more inventory usually softens prices, and it has in several ZIP codes. But buyers are still showing up. The Real Estate Data Aggregator recorded 1,768 pending sales across Primary DOTW in those same three months, up 0.3% from 2025. Demand did not disappear. It just got more selective.

Rates are adding pressure nationally

Freddie Mac put the average 30-year fixed rate at 7.28% as of October 1, 2026. That is above 7% for the first time since January 2025, according to Realtor.com. Higher rates slow some buyers down. They do not stop the ones who are ready.

Realtor.com also reported that active listings grew 5.5% year over year nationally, topping 1.16 million homes for sale. More supply nationally mirrors what the Real Estate Data Aggregator is showing locally. Realtor.com also found that price cuts hit 20.8% of listings nationally in September, the highest share since October 2022. That is a signal worth watching. A home priced right still sells. One priced too high sits.

Speed varies a lot by ZIP code

Not every corner of Primary DOTW reads the same. The Real Estate Data Aggregator shows a wide range of median days on market in the three months ending July 31, 2026. Some ZIP codes are still moving in under two weeks. Others have slowed noticeably.

ZIP 98087 is the clearest example of a slower pocket. The Real Estate Data Aggregator found a median of 28 days on market there, 15 days longer than a year before. Only 30.7% of homes went under contract within two weeks, down 22.1 points from 2025. That is a real shift. It does not mean homes stop selling. It means pricing has to be sharper.

Where buyers are still competing hard

Several ZIP codes still show strong buyer activity. In 98201, the Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 56.4% of homes going under contract within two weeks of listing in the three months ending July 31, 2026. In 98203, that share was 56.8%, up 9 points from a year before. In 98036, it was 57%. In 98020, it was 58.7%.

Prices: mostly flat, with some real swings

Most median sale prices across Primary DOTW dipped a little or held steady in the three months ending July 31, 2026. A few moved sharply in either direction. The Real Estate Data Aggregator put 98290 up 17% year over year, to $965,000. It put 98020 up 24.1%, to $1,225,000. On the other side, 98021 fell 8.9% to $1,200,000, and 98208 fell 5% to $760,000.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency reported that U.S. house prices rose 2.6% from July 2025 to July 2026. Some Primary DOTW ZIP codes beat that. Others fell behind it. One ZIP code's story is not the whole market's story.

Sellers are still getting close to list price, mostly

Across most of Primary DOTW, the average sale price stayed very close to list price. The Real Estate Data Aggregator put 98020 at 101.2% of list in the three months ending July 31, 2026. That means buyers there were still offering over asking. But 98012 came in at 98.5%, and 98087 at 98.9%. In those ZIP codes, sellers are accepting a little less than they asked.

What this means for you

Buyers have more to look at than they did a year ago. That is real. But the Real Estate Data Aggregator still counted 1,768 pending sales across Primary DOTW in those three months. Serious buyers are still moving. The market is not frozen. It is sorting itself by price and condition.

Sellers who price carefully and prepare their home well are still getting offers. Some are still getting multiple offers. The ones sitting longest are mostly in ZIP codes where inventory climbed fastest and pricing did not adjust with it.

One more thing: these numbers cover whole ZIP codes. One street can read very differently from the ZIP code around it. If you want to know what the numbers look like for your specific address, that is worth a closer look.