Published October 18, 2026 in Market Update

Primary market sales rose even with higher mortgage rates

By Alex Saavedra

Real estate, Primary market

Freddie Mac put the 30-year fixed rate at 7.40% as of October 15, 2026. That is a 3-year high, according to Freddie Mac. Higher borrowing costs did not stop buyers here. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 769 homes sold across the Primary market in the three months ending August 31, 2026. That is up 7.4% from the same three months a year before. Demand is real, even now.

Nationally, the picture is more mixed. The National Association of Realtors reported 3.99 million existing-home sales in September 2026. That is a modest number by historical standards. But our Primary market outpaced that national trend, with sales up 7.4% year over year.

More buyers are moving quickly

Speed tells you how eager buyers are. The Real Estate Data Aggregator shows that across several ZIP codes, nearly half of all homes went under contract within two weeks of listing. In 92117, that share was 47.3%. In 92120, it was 47.1%. Those are not slow markets. Sellers who price well are not waiting long.

Supply is tighter than it looks

The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 623 homes for sale across the Primary market in the three months ending August 31, 2026. That is down 4% from a year before. Fewer choices for buyers can push competition up. The Real Estate Data Aggregator also counted 978 new listings in the same period, up 8.8% from a year ago. So more homes came to market, but inventory still shrank. Homes are selling faster than they are piling up.

Prices moved differently in each ZIP code

Not every ZIP code saw prices rise. That is worth saying plainly. The Real Estate Data Aggregator shows the median sale price in 92116 rose 20.7% to $1,182,500. In 92117, it rose 12.5% to $1,157,500. But in 92120, the median dipped 13% to $1,000,000. In 92123, it fell 12.2% to $889,500. More sales happened even where prices softened. That tells you buyers saw value and moved.

A closer look at each ZIP code

ZIP 92117 led the market in homes sold, with 122 closed sales, up 14% from a year before. The Real Estate Data Aggregator put its median at $1,157,500 and median days on market at just 15. Supply there was only 1.5 months. That is tight. ZIP 92108 moved the most volume after 92020, with 90 sales, up 30.4%. But homes there took a median of 50 days to sell. Not every ZIP reads the same.

What the national picture adds

Nationally, sellers outnumbered buyers by a wide margin in September 2026. The estimated number of U.S. homebuyers in September was 928,892, the lowest level since 2013, according to that reporting. Our Primary market ran counter to that. Sales here rose 7.4%, even as national buyer counts fell. That gap matters for anyone thinking about what their home is worth right now.