Ada County Housing Market, Week of October 12, 2026

Ada County, Idaho Market Pulse

Week of October 12 · from Luke Gilbert's team

This week's lean

Buyers gained ground this week.

Sellers held their asking prices. Buyers signed for less. When only one side moves, the market is telling you who blinked.

What moved · resale · vs last week

The full board · vs last week

Signed = went under contract. Days = median time on market for listings, or median time to contract for signed. Exact figures in the story below.

Builders raised their asking prices this week and put more new homes on the market. On the resale side, the median price buyers actually agreed to pay went down. Those two moves point in different directions, and both matter for your next decision.

If you are buying, you have more new construction to choose from, and resale contract prices softened. If you are selling, the price on your listing matters less than the price buyers are signing for right now.

Existing homes

The median asking price on resale homes for sale rose to $626,950, up $2,610 from last week. There are 885 homes for sale, down 6. Those listings have been sitting a median of 34 days, up 1. That figure measures how long homes currently on the market have been waiting. It is not how long it takes to sell.

The bigger story is on the pending side. Resale homes that went under contract came in at a median of $540,050, down $6,870. That is one of the largest price moves on the board this week. Pending deals fell to 441, down 11.

Those homes took a median of 17 days to go under contract, unchanged from last week. Here is my take. Buyers are moving quickly when a home is priced right, but the price they are agreeing to sits well below what sellers are asking. If you are selling, price your home against recent contract prices, not against the listing down the street.

New construction

New builds saw the biggest price jump of the week. The median asking price climbed to $599,900, up $11,461. Builders also added the most inventory of any segment, with 515 homes for sale, up 36. Those new homes currently on the market have been sitting a median of 63 days, unchanged.

On the pending side, new homes going under contract came in at a median of $580,076, up $311. The count slipped to 115, down 2. Those homes took a median of 59 days to go under contract, up 6 from last week.

New construction asking prices sit below resale asking prices, while new construction pending prices sit above resale pending prices. New builds also take far longer to go under contract than resale homes. If I had to guess, builders feel comfortable raising sticker prices because they can offer incentives instead of price cuts. With more homes to sell and slower contracts, that is where your negotiating room likely is.

The bigger picture

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 7.4% as of October 15, per Freddie Mac. For most buyers, that rate shapes the monthly payment as much as the price of the home.

At that rate, small concessions add up. A rate buydown, where the seller or builder pays to lower your interest rate, can do more for your monthly budget than a modest price cut. Buyers looking at new construction should ask about buydowns and closing cost help, especially with builders carrying more homes for sale. Resale sellers should know that those builder incentives are part of their competition.

This is a market where the details decide the outcome. Buyers who compare the full monthly cost, not just the sticker price, will find real options. Sellers who price close to what homes are going under contract for are finding buyers in a median of 17 days. If you want to talk through what this means for your situation, just hit reply.