Published September 25, 2026 in Market Update

Boston has more choices, but homes are still moving

By Vladimir Babic

Real estate, Boston

The biggest shift right now is supply. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 457 homes for sale across Boston in the three months ending July 31, 2026. That is up 25.9% from a year before. More choices for buyers means more competition for sellers. That is the fact that should shape how you price your home today.

Rates are not helping thin that inventory. Freddie Mac put the 30-year fixed rate at 7.03% on September 24, 2026. That keeps some buyers on the sidelines. But the ones who are active are still buying. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 486 homes sold across Boston in the same three months, up 6.8% from a year before.

Pending sales across Boston came in at 478, up 5.5% from a year ago. Demand has not fallen off. Buyers are adjusting to the rate and moving anyway. Realtor.com reported a Boston median list price of $795,000 in August 2026, which gives you a sense of where the bar sits right now.

Not every ZIP is reading the same story

ZIP 02129 is the clearest example of a market still running tight. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 94 homes sold there in the three months ending July 31, 2026, up 19% from a year before. The median sale price hit $1,215,450, up 15.8%. Homes sold in 16 days at a median. And 56.1% of homes went under contract within two weeks of listing. Supply there sits at just 1.6 months.

ZIP 02113 tells a different story. Only 14 homes sold there in the same period, down 50% from a year before. Months of supply jumped to 5.3, up 3.2 months year over year. The median sale price fell 18.2% to $570,000. That is a much softer market sitting just a few minutes from 02129.

Where prices moved up and where they pulled back

Some ZIPs saw real price growth. ZIP 02129 was up 15.8%. ZIP 02149 was up 9.4%, with a median sale price of $782,500. ZIP 02141 gained 7.6%, reaching $930,000. Others gave ground. ZIP 02145 dropped 13.5% to $900,000, even as 77 homes sold there, up 14.9%. ZIP 02113 fell 18.2%. ZIP 02114 slipped 6.5% to $752,500.

ZIP 02109 had the highest median sale price of any ZIP in this group: $1,354,000, up 1.6% from a year before. Only 21 homes sold there, but 41.7% went under contract within two weeks. Months of supply dropped to 2.5, down a full month year over year.

Sellers are still getting close to their asking price

Across most ZIPs, sale-to-list ratios held near or above 99%. ZIP 02129 came in at 101.7%. ZIP 02143 hit 100.9%. ZIP 02141 reached 100.6%. Even in softer spots, sellers are not giving away much. ZIP 02114 averaged 98.5% and ZIP 02109 averaged 97.3%. Realtor.com also noted that days on market increased in Boston year over year by 6 days, which fits with what the Real Estate Data Aggregator shows in several ZIPs.

Speed still varies a lot by ZIP

ZIP 02129 moved the fastest: 16 days at median. ZIP 02143 was close at 22 days. ZIP 02149 came in at 23 days. On the slower end, ZIP 02141 sat at 37 days, up 14 days from a year before. ZIP 02109 averaged 29 days. Those gaps matter when you are deciding when to list.

The rental side of this market

Not everyone is buying. Realtor.com reported a median asking rent of $2,959 in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton metro area in August 2026, down 2.4% from a year before. Nationally, Realtor.com found that 43.5% of rental listings across the 50 largest metros were offering concessions in August 2026. Rents softening a little can nudge some renters toward buying, which may be part of why pending sales are up.

One last thing: the whole-city numbers are a starting point, not a final answer. One street in 02141 can read very differently from a block in 02129. If you want to know what is happening right where you live, send me your address and I can pull the specifics.