Published October 18, 2026 in Market Update

More listings hit South Shore, but closings still slipped

By Patrick & Alana Scanlon

Real estate, South Shore (Quincy/Braintree/Weymouth/Milton)

Here is the number that changes what sellers need to do right now. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 372 homes for sale across South Shore in the three months ending August 31, 2026. That is up 31% from the same period a year before. More competition means pricing and prep matter more than they did last year. Not panic. Just sharper work.

More listings came to market, but fewer homes closed. The Real Estate Data Aggregator shows 595 sales across the area, down 4.3%. Pending sales dropped 4.9% too. Buyers have more to look at. That gives them a little more time to decide, and a little more room to ask questions.

Rates are not helping either side

Freddie Mac put the 30-year fixed rate at 7.40% as of October 15, 2026. Fannie Mae, as reported by CNBC on October 14, 2026, forecasts that rate holding at 7.4% through the end of 2026 and rising to 7.5% through 2027. That is a real cost. A buyer shopping a $650,000 home today is carrying a very different monthly payment than a buyer from two years ago.

CNBC reported on October 14, 2026 that pending home sales nationally were down 8.5% year over year, according to Zillow. South Shore's own 4.9% drop in pending sales is a smaller dip than that national figure, which is worth noting.

Prices held in most ZIP codes, but not all

The picture is not the same everywhere. Some ZIP codes saw prices rise. Some slipped. Here is what the Real Estate Data Aggregator counted for each area in the three months ending August 31, 2026.

ZIP 02189 in Weymouth had the sharpest price move. The Real Estate Data Aggregator put the median there at $560,000, down 13.8% from a year before. Homes sold there dropped 30.2% and inventory jumped 56.3%. That combination, fewer closings and more supply, tends to pull prices down. It does not mean every home there is worth less. It means the mix of what sold shifted.

ZIP 02188, also in Weymouth, told a different story. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted a median of $675,000, up 11.6%. Sales rose 38.5%. Only 9 homes were for sale, down 18.2%. That is a tight pocket inside the same city.

How fast did homes move?

Speed was mostly steady. Most ZIP codes sat at 19 to 22 median days on market, according to the Real Estate Data Aggregator. The share of homes going under contract within two weeks of listing fell in several areas, which is the cleaner sign that buyers are taking a breath.

ZIP 02191 in Weymouth stood out on the over-list side. The Real Estate Data Aggregator showed 69.7% of homes there sold above list price, up 19.7 points from a year before. The average sale-to-list ratio was 104.5%, up 3.6 points. That is a pocket where well-priced homes are still drawing competition.

Milton: high prices, fewer closings

ZIP 02186, which covers Milton, had the highest median price in the area: $1,027,500, up 1.5%, per the Real Estate Data Aggregator. But homes sold dropped 8.9%, and pending sales fell 22.5%. Only 33.9% of homes went under contract within two weeks, down 12.4 points. At that price point, buyers are careful. That is not unusual, and it is not a problem by itself, but it does mean sellers there need realistic timelines.

Braintree: more sales, nearly flat price

ZIP 02184 in Braintree was one of the busier spots. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 108 homes sold, up 27.1%. The median price was $722,500, down just 0.3%. More than half of homes, 51.9%, sold above list price, up 6 points. Supply rose 46.9%, which is worth watching, but the pace of sales absorbed most of it.

Quincy: the largest market, some softening

ZIP 02169 is the biggest single ZIP in this group. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 139 sales there, but that was down 13.7%. Inventory jumped 46.9% to 119 homes. The median was $659,000, down 3.4%. Months of supply rose 1.1 months to 2.6. That is still a seller's market by most measures, but it is looser than it was.

Every ZIP code in this market sat below 3 months of supply. That is still tight. But the direction matters. Most of them added supply compared to a year ago. The Federal Housing Finance Agency reported on September 29, 2026 that U.S. house prices rose 2.6% year over year through July. The South Shore picture is mixed around that national number, with some ZIP codes above it and some below.

One more thing worth saying: the ZIP code numbers above are averages. One street, one condo building, one style of home can read very differently from the whole ZIP. If you want to know what your specific address looks like against what actually sold near you, that is a different conversation.