One part of South Shore is moving much faster than the rest
Realtor.com put the South region at 68 days on market in September 2026. That number sounds patient. It is not the whole story here.
The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted homes across nine ZIP codes in Quincy, Braintree, Weymouth and Milton for the three months ending August 31, 2026. Most of them are competitive. One of them is in a different league.
ZIP 02188 (Weymouth) is the tightest spot on the map
The Real Estate Data Aggregator recorded just 0.5 months of supply in ZIP 02188 for the three months ending August 31, 2026. That is the lowest of any ZIP code we cover here. For context, most of the others sit between 1.9 and 2.6 months.
Low supply alone does not tell you how fast things move. Speed does. The Real Estate Data Aggregator found that 68.3% of homes in ZIP 02188 went under contract within two weeks of listing. That share is up 5.8 points from the same period in 2025. Buyers there are not taking their time.
Sellers in ZIP 02188 averaged 103.2% of their list price. More than half of homes sold above asking. Prices rose 11.6% from the same period in 2025, the Real Estate Data Aggregator shows. Those three things together mean pricing with confidence is reasonable there. Leaving money on the table with a low list price is the real risk.
How the rest of the market compares
The other eight ZIP codes are not slow. They are just different. Here is how the key speed measure stacks up across the area, for the three months ending August 31, 2026, from the Real Estate Data Aggregator.
ZIP 02186 (Milton) sits at the other end of that chart, with 33.9% going under contract within two weeks. That is down 12.4 points from 2025, the Real Estate Data Aggregator shows. Homes there still sell at 102.7% of list on average, so it is not a soft market. It is a slower one, and buyers there have a little more room to breathe.
A note on price: not every ZIP moved the same way
ZIP 02189 saw the biggest price drop, down 13.8% from 2025 to a median of $560,000, the Real Estate Data Aggregator shows. Homes for sale there rose 56.3% from a year earlier. More supply, fewer sales, softer prices. That is a different conversation than ZIP 02188, even though both are in Weymouth.
ZIP 02184 (Braintree) had the biggest jump in sales volume, up 27.1% from 2025, with 108 homes sold. Prices there dipped just 0.3%. Lots of activity, steady prices. ZIP 02169 (Quincy) had the most homes sold of any single ZIP, 139, but prices slipped 3.4% and supply rose 1.1 months.
What rates mean for buyers right now
CNBC reported the average contract rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage with a conforming balance rose to 7.49% as of the week ending October 7, 2026. Purchase applications fell 2% that same week. Buyers are feeling it. In a ZIP like 02188, where nearly 7 in 10 homes go under contract in two weeks, a rate delay or a slow pre-approval can cost you the house.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency reported U.S. home prices rose 2.6% from July 2025 to July 2026, and 0.3% from the prior month in July 2026 (seasonally adjusted). Several ZIP codes here beat that national pace on price growth.
The whole market in one place
| 02188 (Weymouth) | 02191 (N. Weymouth) | 02186 (Milton) | 02169 (Quincy) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median sale price | $675,000 | $640,000 | $1,027,500 | $659,000 |
| Months of supply | 0.5 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 2.6 |
| Under contract in 2 weeks | 68.3% | 54.6% | 33.9% | 53.4% |
| Avg sale vs. list | 103.2% | 104.5% | 102.7% | 101.2% |
| Median days on market | 21 | 19 | 22 | 22 |
ZIP 02191 (North Weymouth) actually led on sale-to-list ratio, at 104.5%, up 3.6 points from 2025. Nearly 7 in 10 homes there sold above list. That is worth watching.
- The South region headline of 68 days on market (Realtor.com, September 2026) does not describe ZIP 02188 or ZIP 02191. Those two move in weeks, not months.
- The rest of this market is competitive but more forgiving.
- Where your home sits determines your strategy, and the two are not interchangeable.
These are ZIP-code-level numbers for the three months ending August 31, 2026. One street can read very differently from the ZIP around it. A condo building, a busy road, a school boundary line, all of it matters at the address level. If you want to know where your specific home lands, reach out.
Your next step
(617) 939-4613Text me your address and we'll send back how your Weymouth, Quincy, Braintree or Milton home compares with what actually sold nearby, including days on market and sale-to-list ratio for homes like yours. Takes a day, costs nothing.
Text me- Real Estate Data Aggregator numbers for ZIPs 02184, 02186, 02170, 02171, 02188, 02189, 02190, 02191 and 02169, the three months ending August 31, 2026, compared with the same months of 2025. Real Estate Data Aggregator last updated them on Oct 7, 2026.
- Realtor.com: September 2026 Monthly Housing Trends: Price Cuts Hit 4-Year Highs as Mortgage Rates Top 7%, Sep 30, 2026
- Federal Housing Finance Agency: FHFA House Price Index® Up 0.3 Percent in July; Up 2.6 Percent from Last Year | FHFA, Sep 29, 2026
- Redfin: One in Five Home Sellers Cut Prices as Buyer’s Market Persists, Sep 30, 2026
- Realtor.com: August 2026 Rental Report: Rents Fall for 37th Straight Month as Concessions Give Renters More Leverage, Sep 17, 2026
- CNBC: Refinance demand is now half what it was a year ago, as mortgage rates rise again, Oct 7, 2026