Published November 1, 2026 in Market Update

Primary market sales rose even as listings stayed tight

The one fact that changes what you should do right now: demand held up even as choices shrank. Freddie Mac put the 30-year fixed rate at 7.24% as of October 29, 2026. Rates that high usually cool things off. They did not here.

The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 859 homes sold across ZIP codes 92109, 92107, 92106, 92037, 92116, 92103, 92104, 92102, 92117 and 92110 in the three months ending August 31, 2026. That is up 5.8% from the same period a year before. More homes changed hands even though fewer were available to buy.

Inventory fell 7.7% while sales rose. That gap matters to you as a seller: fewer competing homes means your listing stands out more. For buyers, it means the pool of choices is still tight, so being ready to move quickly helps.

Rates are real, and buyers showed up anyway

Freddie Mac reported the 30-year fixed rate at 7.24% as of October 29, 2026. Realtor.com noted that rates climbed above 7% for the first time since January 2025. The National Association of Realtors reported 3.99 million existing-home sales nationally in September 2026. Locally, the Real Estate Data Aggregator shows buyers kept moving in spite of those borrowing costs.

Pending sales across the primary market came in at 888 for the period, down 4% from a year before. So not every signal points the same way. Sales closed in greater numbers, but the forward-looking pipeline softened a little. Pricing and preparation still decide who sells and who waits.

Each ZIP code tells a different story

The market-wide numbers are a starting point, not the whole picture. Some ZIP codes moved faster and priced higher. Others saw prices dip even as sales rose. Here is how each area looked in the three months ending August 31, 2026, according to the Real Estate Data Aggregator.

ZIP 92117 moved fastest. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted a median of just 15 days on market there, 11 days shorter than a year before. Nearly half of homes, 45.1%, sold above list price, up 23.6 points from a year ago. Months of supply sat at just 1.5. That is a tight market inside an already tight market.

ZIP 92116 also moved quickly, with a median of 16 days on market, 18 days shorter than a year before. The Real Estate Data Aggregator showed the median sale price there at $1,182,500, up 20.7% from the same period in 2025. Yet homes sold fell 22%. Fewer homes came to market, and the ones that did carried higher prices.

ZIP 92106 is worth a closer look. The Real Estate Data Aggregator put the median sale price at $1,735,000, but that was down 8.2% from a year before. Homes sold there fell 7.5% too. Still, 99.5% of list price was recovered on average, up 2.9 points, and 33.9% of homes went under contract within two weeks. Prices dipped, but well-priced homes still moved.

ZIP 92037 in La Jolla had the highest median sale price in the group. The Real Estate Data Aggregator recorded $2,354,500, though that was down 5.7% from a year before. Inventory there fell 11.9%, and months of supply dropped to 3.9. Sales held nearly flat, up just 0.7%.

Where prices rose and where they dipped

Not every ZIP code saw prices climb. That is an honest part of this market's story. The Real Estate Data Aggregator shows ZIP 92102 with the biggest price gain, up 33.9% to $917,500, though homes sold there fell 8.1% and days on market grew 12 days longer. A big price jump with fewer sales and slower pace can mean the mix of what sold changed, not that every home is worth more.

ZIP 92103 saw its median sale price fall 9.1% to $999,500, yet homes sold rose 14.6%. More sales at a lower median can mean buyers found value and moved. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 34.9% of homes there going under contract within two weeks, up 13.5 points from a year before.

How quickly homes went under contract

Speed is one of the clearest signals of buyer demand. The Real Estate Data Aggregator tracked the share of homes that went under contract within two weeks of listing. In ZIP 92117, that share was 47.3%, up 15.1 points from a year before. In ZIP 92116 it was 44.6%, up 12.6 points.

Even the slowest ZIP code in this group, 92037 in La Jolla, saw nearly 1 in 4 homes go under contract within two weeks. That is not slow by national standards. Realtor.com put the national median days on market at 64 days for the week ending October 24, 2026. Most ZIP codes here moved well under that pace.

Supply is still the limiting factor

The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 810 homes for sale across the primary market in the three months ending August 31, 2026. That is down 7.7% from a year before. New listings came in at 1,153, up 5.8%. More sellers listed, but total available inventory still shrank. Homes are selling about as fast as they arrive.

ZIP 92102 had the most supply at 5.1 months, up 0.9 months from a year before. That is still below what most analysts call a balanced market. Every other ZIP code sat well under 4 months. ZIP 92117 had just 1.5 months of supply, down 1.1 months from a year ago.

One more thing worth saying: these are ZIP code numbers. One street, one block or one building type can read very differently from the whole ZIP. If your home sits on a specific street, the broader numbers are a guide, not a guarantee. Text me your address and I will send back how your specific street compares with what actually sold nearby. Takes a day, costs nothing.