Published October 18, 2026 in Market Update

More homes are selling in DOTW, but buyers still have choices

By Andrew Monaghan

Real estate, Primary buy box (DOTW)

Here is the one thing that shapes everything right now: Freddie Mac put the 30-year fixed rate at 7.40% as of October 15, 2026. That is the highest it has been in years. It squeezes what buyers can afford, and it is the reason sellers cannot rely on demand alone to carry a deal.

Even so, buyers are still out there. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 3,752 homes sold across the DOTW market in the three months ending August 31, 2026. That is up 2.8% from the same three months in 2025. Sales are moving, just not on autopilot.

Inventory fell. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 4,479 homes for sale across DOTW, down 8.3% from a year ago. Fewer choices for buyers means the homes that are priced and presented well stand out. The ones that are not tend to sit.

New listings still came to market. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 3,973 new listings, up 1% from a year ago. So buyers have fresh options arriving. That is good news if you are shopping, and it is a reminder for sellers that your home is competing with those new arrivals.

What rates mean for your payment right now

Freddie Mac reported the 30-year rate at 7.40% as of October 15, 2026. A separate report from Realtor.com noted rates climbed above 7% for the first time since January 2025. The practical result: a typical homebuyer's monthly payment hit $2,777, the highest on record except for the week before, according to that same source.

That rate level is real pressure on buyers. It also explains why some sellers are trimming prices. Realtor.com reported that 20.8% of listings nationally had price cuts in September 2026, the highest share since October 2022. That is a national number, not a DOTW count, but it tells you what shoppers are seeing everywhere they look.

How each ZIP code read in the three months ending August 31, 2026

The market is not one thing. Prices, speed and supply shift a lot from one ZIP to the next. Here is what the Real Estate Data Aggregator counted for each community.

Speed: how fast homes went under contract

Not every home sold fast. But the share that went under contract within two weeks of listing tells you where buyers moved quickly. The Real Estate Data Aggregator tracked this for each ZIP.

In 85306, the Real Estate Data Aggregator found that 29.6% of homes went under contract within two weeks. That is nearly 3 in 10. In 85387, only 8.6% did. Same general area, very different pace. Pricing and condition explain a lot of that gap.

Days on market: some ZIPs moved faster, some slower

The fastest ZIP was 85310 in Glendale, where the Real Estate Data Aggregator counted a median of 46 days on market. The slowest was 85387 in Surprise at 97 days, 10 days longer than a year ago. That is a big range inside the same market.

Months of supply: buyers have room, but not a lot

Months of supply tells you how long it would take to sell every home currently listed, at the current pace. Below 3 months generally favors sellers. Above 5 generally favors buyers. Most of DOTW sat in between.

Sun City West (85375) was the tightest spot, with the Real Estate Data Aggregator showing just 2.3 months of supply, down 0.7 months from a year ago. Surprise (85388) was the loosest at 4.8 months. Sellers in tighter ZIPs have a little more leverage. Sellers in looser ones need to be sharper on price.

The national picture adds context

The Federal Housing Finance Agency reported that U.S. home prices rose 2.6% from July 2025 to July 2026, and 0.3% from the previous month in July, seasonally adjusted. That is a slow but steady national trend. Several DOTW ZIPs outpaced that, and a few fell behind it.

Realtor.com counted 1.16 million homes for sale nationally in September 2026. More supply nationally gives buyers more to compare your home against, even if local inventory here is tighter than a year ago.

What this means if you own a home here

Sales are up 2.8% across DOTW, and new listings are still arriving. That is a real market. But Freddie Mac's 7.40% rate means buyers are stretching every dollar. Homes that are priced right for their ZIP and condition are selling. Homes that are not are sitting, sometimes for 80 or 90 days.

The sale-to-list ratio tells part of the story. In 85310, the Real Estate Data Aggregator found sellers averaged 99.1% of their list price. In 85087, it was 95%. That 4-point gap is real money on a $600,000 home. Where you price matters.

One more thing worth knowing: the Real Estate Data Aggregator numbers here cover the three months ending August 31, 2026. These are real counts of homes in this market. A lot can shift from one block to the next inside the same ZIP code.