Ada County Housing Market, Week of May 25, 2026

Ada County, Idaho Market Pulse

Week of May 25 · from Luke Gilbert's team

Homes are piling up on the market. That’s the headline. If you’re a buyer, it means more choices and a bit more time to look. If you’re a seller, you’re competing for attention in a crowd that’s getting bigger by the week.

The biggest move came from existing listings. There are 27 more resale homes for sale than last week, pushing active inventory to 886. That’s a steady climb, not a spike, but it’s enough to notice if you’re watching for price cuts. Median list price on those resales dropped by $15,100 in just seven days. Sellers are adjusting—either to meet buyers where they are, or to avoid being the house that sits all summer.

Existing homes

The typical resale home in Ada County is sticking around for about three weeks before it goes under contract. That hasn’t changed much, but the gap between active and pending prices is starting to open up. The median asking price for homes still on the market is $649,900, while the homes that actually went under contract this week did so at a median of $580,000. That’s a $69,900 difference—buyers are picking off the better-priced homes, and the rest are starting to stall.

Pending deals dropped by 21 listings, down to 675. Fewer buyers are pulling the trigger, even as sellers bend on price. Not a collapse, but a sign that higher mortgage rates are making buyers more selective. It’s still possible to sell quickly, but only if the price lines up with what buyers are willing to pay.

New construction

Builders are facing their own kind of slowdown. Active new construction inventory is up by 16 homes, now at 395. But the median price for new builds under contract dropped nearly $9,000, down to $615,990. Even with more brand-new homes to choose from, buyers aren’t rushing in. The typical new build is sitting for 53 days before finding a buyer—that’s nearly two months, and it keeps creeping up.

Pending sales for new construction barely budged, down by just two homes, but that drop in contract prices is a signal. Builders are having to work harder, maybe offering incentives or quietly trimming prices to keep deals moving. For buyers, it’s leverage. For builders, it’s a slow grind.

The bigger picture

High mortgage rates aren’t going away. At nearly 7 percent, the payment on a median Ada County home is still north of $2,200 a month. That’s forcing buyers to be choosy, and it’s forcing sellers to get realistic. If you’re shopping in Boise or Meridian, you’ll see more homes still available each weekend, but don’t expect prices to tumble overnight. Sellers are making small moves—price drops, incentives, or fresh paint—but most would rather wait than slash their numbers.

National headlines about steady Fed policy or soft job growth feel distant, but you’re seeing the effects here in the form of longer days on market and more inventory. Materials costs for new builds aren’t helping either, so don’t expect a flood of affordable new homes to hit the market soon.

Some weeks, everything points in the same direction. This isn’t one of those weeks. More choices, slower sales, small price cuts—each piece is moving, but not enough to break the market wide open. If I had to guess, I’d say we’re settling into a standoff, with buyers and sellers both waiting for the other to blink.