Ada County Housing Market, Week of October 19, 2026

Ada County, Idaho Market Pulse

Week of October 19 · from Luke Gilbert's team

This week's lean

The week leaned toward sellers.

More buyers committed, and they paid closer to asking. Hesitation had a cost this week.

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.

Brand new homes are piling up in Ada County. Builders now have 523 new homes for sale, the most of any week I have saved, and that count has risen six weeks in a row, each week since the week of September 14. The resale side is moving the other way. There are 876 resale homes for sale, the fewest of my saved weeks, which go back to June 29.

If you are buying, the real negotiating room is with builders, who are carrying more homes and waiting longer for buyers. If you are selling a resale home, you face fewer competing resale listings, but your biggest competition may be the new build down the road.

Existing homes

The median asking price on resale homes for sale is $629,860, up $2,910 from last week. That is four weeks in a row of increases, each week since the week of September 28. Listings fell by 9 to 876. Homes currently for sale have been sitting a median of 34 days, unchanged. That number tracks homes still waiting for a buyer, not how fast homes sell.

Signed deals tell a softer story. Resale homes under contract came in at a median of $542,350, up $2,300 this week. Since the week of June 29, that figure is down $47,250 (8.0%) from $589,600. Pending deals rose by 8 to 449, a small bounce after the week of October 12 posted the lowest count of my saved weeks.

Those homes took a median of 18 days to go under contract, unchanged from last week but the slowest of my saved weeks. Here is my take. Sellers keep nudging asking prices up while buyers sign at much lower prices and take a little more time to commit. If you are selling, price against recent contracts, not against other listings.

New construction

Back in the issue for the week of October 12, I pointed out that builders were raising sticker prices. This week the asking price barely moved. The median for new homes for sale is $599,936, up just $36. Those homes have been sitting a median of 68 days, up 4, the longest of my saved weeks.

The pending side is where builders are giving ground. New homes under contract came in at a median of $577,838, down $2,238, the lowest of my saved weeks. The count rose by 2 to 117. Those homes took a median of 66 days to go under contract, up 7, the slowest of my saved weeks and up two weeks in a row, each week since the week of October 12.

New builds still go under contract at a higher median price than resale homes, but they take far longer to get there. If I had to guess, builders with this much inventory are open to deals, even if the sticker price stays put.

The bigger picture

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 7.32% as of October 22, 2026, per Freddie Mac. That is up 0.04 percentage points since 7.28% as of October 1, 2026. It is a small move, but rates are still high enough that your monthly payment matters as much as the price.

That is why incentives matter right now. A rate buydown, where the seller or builder pays to lower your interest rate, can shrink your payment more than a modest price cut. With builders holding more homes and waiting longer for contracts, buyers should ask about buydowns and closing cost help. Resale sellers should know those offers are part of what they are competing against.

The short version is that buyers have more choices in new construction, and resale sellers have less competition but buyers who are taking their time. If you want to talk through what this means for your plans, just hit reply.