Published October 2, 2026 in Market Update

Homes Under $900,000 Got Full Price More Often in Livingston

By Lena Pesso

Real estate, Default Sales 2026 10 01

You may have heard that sellers around here are still getting over asking. That is mostly true. But the story is not the same for every home, and the gap between price ranges is wider than most people expect.

In May 2026, the typical home sold for 105.6% of what it first asked. Buyers were competing hard, and sellers at almost every price point felt it. That was the high-water mark in this data.

By September, the edge had softened.

That 105.6% in May did not hold. June came in at 100.8%. July ticked back up to 101%. August bounced to 102.1%, then September landed at 100.1%. The market did not fall. Sellers still got their price. But the cushion shrank.

The early stretch of the file, April through July 2026, saw 55 homes sell at a typical 101.8% of their first asking price. The later stretch, July through September, brought 69 sales at 100.7%. The difference is small in percentage terms, but on a $1.2 million home it is real money.

Price range mattered more than anything else.

Here is the part that surprised me when I pulled this data. The whole market sold at 101.3% of asking on average. But that number hides a wide spread depending on where a home was priced.

I looked at 124 sales and sorted them by the price range each home sold in. Then I asked one question: what share of homes in each range sold at or above their asking price? The answer changed a lot by range.

Under $900,000, nearly 9 in 10 homes sold at or above asking. That is 35 homes, and 88.6% of them got full price or better. As you move up the price ladder, that share drops steadily, and at $1.6 million and up, only 6 in 10 managed it.

This does not mean the high end is struggling. Zero homes gave up and came off the market unsold in any price range. Homes priced at $1.75 million and up still sold at exactly 100% of what they first asked. But the competition thinned out, and sellers in that range had less room to set a price and watch buyers push past it.

The bedroom count tells a similar story. Three-bedroom homes sold at 102.8% of their first asking price. Four-bedroom homes came in at 102.3%. Five-bedroom homes got 100.7%. Homes with six or more bedrooms landed at exactly 100%. More home, less competition.

What this means if you are buying or selling right now

If you are selling, the price you set on day one does more work than almost any other decision you make. Under $900,000, the data shows buyers will push past a well-set price. Above $1.6 million, the pool of buyers is smaller, and you are more likely to land right at your number than above it. That is not a reason to underprice a larger home. It is a reason to set the price carefully the first time, because the room to recover is thinner. The 30-year fixed mortgage averaged 7.03% as of September 24, 2026, up from 6.95% the week before, according to Freddie Mac's weekly rate survey. Rates at that level keep some buyers on the sideline, and that pressure shows up most at the top of the market.

If you are buying, the under-$900,000 range is genuinely competitive. Nearly 9 in 10 homes there sold at or above asking, so going in at list price with the expectation of winning is probably not a plan. Above $1.6 million, the data gives you a little more room. Only 6 in 10 homes sold at or above asking, which means 40% did not. That does not mean sellers are desperate. Zero homes in this entire data set gave up without selling. It means there is more conversation to be had.