Published October 18, 2026 in Market Update

More listings are showing up, but North Shore demand is still moving

By Patrick & Alana Scanlon

Real estate, North Shore

The one thing every North Shore homeowner should know right now: you have more competition than you did a year ago. That is real. But buyers are still writing offers, and the numbers back that up. These are the three months ending August 31, 2026.

Realtor.com reported that Northeast inventory rose 11.6% year over year in September 2026. That tracks with what the Real Estate Data Aggregator counted here. More listings are coming on. That is not a crisis. It is a shift. Buyers have options now that they did not have last year, and that changes how you need to price and prepare.

The wider picture: rates and prices

Nationally, mortgage rates topped 7% in September 2026, according to Realtor.com. That matters here too. Higher rates slow some buyers down. But 883 pending sales across North Shore says plenty of buyers are still moving. The Federal Housing Finance Agency reported U.S. house prices rose 2.6% from July 2025 to July 2026. Growth is slower, not gone.

Where buyers are still moving fast

Not every ZIP code is the same story. Some are still very competitive. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted these results for the three months ending August 31, 2026.

ZIP 02176 stands out. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 66% of homes there selling above list price, with a median sale-to-list ratio of 106.8% and a median of just 16 days on market. Supply sits at only 1.2 months. That is tight. Buyers are competing hard there.

ZIP 01905 and 01904 are close behind. In 01905, the Real Estate Data Aggregator put 63.8% of homes above list and the median sale price up 13.3% year over year, to $680,000. In 01904, more than half of homes sold above list and the median days on market was 22. These ZIPs are not slowing down.

Where the picture is more mixed

ZIP 02150 tells a different story. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted homes for sale up 52.6% year over year, months of supply at 4.9, and pending sales down 26.2%. The median sale price slipped 1.9% to $528,500. More listings, fewer buyers moving. That is a real change from a year ago.

ZIP 02152 saw the sharpest price dip in the data: median sale price down 13.2% to $629,000, according to the Real Estate Data Aggregator. Homes for sale jumped 63% year over year. Months of supply hit 4.7. It sold faster than last year, 6 days shorter on the median, but fewer buyers went under contract.

Speed: how quickly homes went under contract

Speed is one of the clearest signals of buyer demand. The Real Estate Data Aggregator tracked what share of homes went under contract within two weeks of listing.

In ZIP 02176, nearly 2 in 3 homes went under contract within two weeks. In ZIP 01905, more than half did. Even in the slower ZIPs, buyers are moving. ZIP 02150 and 02152 are slower, but still seeing roughly 1 in 3 homes go under contract within two weeks. That is not a stalled market.

Median sale prices across the area

ZIP 02151 saw the biggest price jump: up 21.6% year over year to $705,000, per the Real Estate Data Aggregator. ZIP 01905 was up 13.3%. Those are meaningful moves. On the other side, ZIP 02152 fell 13.2% and ZIP 02149 rose 6.5% despite fewer sales. Price direction varies a lot by ZIP, even within the same general area.

What this means if you own a home here

More listings means buyers have choices they did not have last year. That is the honest read. Realtor.com also reported the Northeast median list price fell 3.8% year over year in September 2026. That is a signal that overpriced homes are sitting. The ones priced right are still moving, sometimes fast.

The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 1,104 new listings and 883 pending sales across these North Shore ZIPs in three months. That gap is real. But it is not a collapse. Prep and price still matter, and they matter more now than they did when anything listed would sell.