We are in the last leg of 2025. We will be ringing in the new year before you know it. The real estate stats for Summit County are looking pretty decent overall and I’m hopeful for a good 2026. Let’s dig into October’s numbers.
Residential sales
Sales are up compared to this point in 2024. We have about 165 more sales, which is a 15.7% increase. 2025 has had 3 months with sales equal to or higher than the highest number of sales in any month in 2024 or 2023. As a result total residential sales for the year should definitely surpass the total in both 2024 and 2023 and maybe even 2022. With that said, pre-pandemic sales were not this low since 2012. So, while sales are gaining steam, they are still a far cry from pre-pandemic norms.
Residential inventory
Now that we know the sales are growing, how have the number of homes on the market changed? Residential properties for sale peaked about mid-August. That’s pretty typical to see no matter how many homes are for sale. This year peaked at about 920 properties for sale. That’s about 200 more properties than in 2024, which was about 275 more than 2023’s peak. That’s wonderful to see! We are running right around a five month supply of homes on the market. A six month supply is considered a balanced market so the Summit County market is leaning just slightly in the sellers’ favor. When there isn’t much to choose from, the seller has the advantage when they have a desirable property. When the market is flooded with properties, sellers need buyers which gives the buyer the upper hand. With that said, there hasn’t been this many properties on the market since 2015 when the peak was around 975 properties for sale. Putting this in perspective, in 2009, at the beginning of the Great Recession, there were about 2100 properties for sale. The extreme inventory was compounded by extremely low sales happening at the same time. That extreme buyer’s market pushed prices down substantially.
Days on market
Sales are up and inventory is up. Are properties still selling quickly? In the previous 12 months homes have been averaging 76 days to sell with the median at 42 days. One of the homes to sell was on the market for more than 3 years which will drive that average up so it’s important to look at the median as well. During the previous 12 months, the average was 50 days to sell with a median of 22 days. That’s quite a significant increase in the time to sell. However, sellers have been spoiled lately. Properties could be listed for sale for a day and have multiple showings and multiple offers. Except for an exceptional property here and there, that is not a reality any longer. Sixty to ninety days is still a reasonable amount of time, depending on the season and the property. In fact, in the last 12 months, 57.5% of homes sold in the first 60 days and 70% sold in 90 days or less.
Discounted sales
The market feels pretty reasonable. Nothing excessive in either direction. Are buyers paying full price for properties? No. If the property doesn’t sell immediately, full price offers are more rare. They do still happen. On occasion, a property will have been on the market for a while and, coincidentally, two buyers both decide to offer on it at the same time. That happens more often than you’d think. On average, properties are currently selling for 97% of list price. That’s slightly less than the 12 month prior when it was 97.5%. That’s a 2.5-3% discount off of list price for the buyer, which is pretty typical. That discount can get up around 4% before raising any concerns about the market.
Average sale price
With all this normal-ness to the Summit County real estate market, are prices still going up? Property values vary so much it is difficult to get the whole story from just an average. It’s especially erroneous with our small market. With fewer sales, one multi-million dollar sale can really impact the average for one month. Even over a 12 month period, a lot of higher priced sales can drive the average up when another market segment is actually declining in price. With that said, take it with a grain of salt that the average sale price increased to $1,443,371. That’s a 2.1% increase over the 12 months prior. Median sales price is pretty much flat coming in at $1,040,000 compared to $1,035,000 for the prior 12 month period. Just from what I am seeing in the market, I believe that prices are really declining, not increasing as the average sale price indicates. Most properties are not seeing drastic declines. Every week there are many price reductions posted in the Summit County MLS. In the last 7 days, there have been 31 price reductions posted.
A stable market
Overall, it’s a pretty stable real estate market. I expect that to continue into 2026. I don’t see a big change in interest rates coming or 50 year mortgages on the horizon. However, I do believe there are more people wanting to buy and sell second homes in Summit County but the instability in the national economy has given a lot of people pause. The stability in the local real estate market cannot overcome that uncertainty. It will take time to change that.
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