Published October 11, 2026 in Market Update

Somerville / Cambridge is splitting into fast and slower lanes

By Patrick & Alana Scanlon

Real estate, Somerville / Cambridge

Here is the one thing that changes how you should think about pricing or timing right now. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 488 homes sold across Somerville and Cambridge in the three months ending August 31, 2026. But that single number hides a wide split. One ZIP code sat at 1.3 months of supply. Another sat at 7.2. That is not a small gap. It means a seller in one pocket still faces real competition, while a seller two stops away is waiting.

The supply gap, ZIP by ZIP

ZIP 02142 had only 3 homes sold and 7 for sale, per the Real Estate Data Aggregator. That is a very thin sample, so treat 7.2 months as a signal, not a verdict. Still, no home there sold above list price in this period. Compare that with ZIPs 02139 and 02140, both at 1.3 months, where half or more of homes sold above asking.

Where buyers are still paying over list

ZIP 02140 had the highest sale-to-list ratio in the area. The Real Estate Data Aggregator put it at 103.9%, up 2.2 points from a year before. Half of homes there sold above asking. New listings fell 29% from a year ago, so buyers had less to choose from and competed harder for what came up.

ZIP 02139 was nearly as tight. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 86 homes sold, up 21.1% year over year, with a sale-to-list of 103.2%. Median days on market: 21. More than half, 55.8%, went under contract within two weeks of listing.

The slower side of the split

ZIP 02145 tells a different story. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 72 homes sold there, up 41.2% from a year ago. But inventory rose too: homes for sale were up 75.6%. Median days on market stretched to 29, six days longer than a year before. The sale-to-list ratio slipped to 98.6%, meaning the typical home sold just under asking. Only 23.6% sold above list, down nearly 10 points from a year ago.

ZIP 02141 moved in a similar direction. The Real Estate Data Aggregator showed 40 homes sold, up sharply, but homes for sale rose 61.5% and median days on market stretched to 37, fourteen days longer than a year before. More homes are competing for buyers there.

What the wider picture adds

Realtor.com reported the Boston-Cambridge-Newton metro median home price at $784,778 in September 2026. That number sits well below what the Real Estate Data Aggregator shows for most ZIPs here, where medians run from $800,000 to $1,447,000. The metro figure covers a much wider area. It is a useful reference, not a local price guide.

Rates are a real headwind for buyers right now. CNBC reported the average 30-year fixed rate rose to 7.49% last week. Realtor.com noted rates topped 7% in September 2026 for the first time since January 2025. That slows decisions. It also explains why some sellers in softer pockets are waiting longer.

Realtor.com also reported that 20.8% of U.S. listings had a price cut in September 2026, the highest share since October 2022. That is a national figure. But it fits what we are seeing locally in the slower ZIPs, where pricing has to be sharper to move a home.

What this means if you own here

If your home is in a ZIP with 1.3 months of supply, the market is still doing a lot of the work for a well-priced listing. If you are in a ZIP at 3 or 7 months, the price and the condition have to carry more weight. The difference between those two situations is not obvious from a single metro number.

One more thing worth knowing. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 479 new listings across Somerville and Cambridge in this same three-month window, against 488 sales. Supply is not overwhelming demand overall. But it is uneven. That unevenness is the whole story.