MD & DC Metro Residential Real Estate Update
September is beginning with a housing market that looks considerably different from the one buyers faced just a few years ago.
There are more homes to choose from.
Prices are showing signs of stabilization—and in some measures, softening.
Homes are taking longer to sell.
And mortgage rates remain the stubborn piece of the puzzle.
This week, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate climbed to 6.71%, its highest reading of 2026 so far. At the same time, fresh August housing data shows active inventory across the Washington, DC metro running 13.8% above last year’s level.
That creates an interesting market:
Buyers have more leverage over the house—but less leverage over the payment.
For sellers, meanwhile, the market isn’t disappearing.
It’s becoming less forgiving.
Market Theme #1: Mortgage Rates Rise to 6.71%
Let’s start with the number buyers probably like the least.
Freddie Mac reported the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate at 6.71% as of September 3, up from 6.66% the previous week.
The 15-year fixed mortgage averaged 6.04%, up from 5.98%.
A year ago, the corresponding rates were 6.50% and 5.60%.
So the modest rate relief we saw during August hasn’t continued into September.
That’s significant because affordability—not necessarily buyer interest—remains one of the biggest obstacles in today’s market.
A buyer can love the $850,000 house.
The lender still has an annoying habit of expecting them to make the payment.
For buyers throughout Montgomery County, particularly in Rockville, North Potomac, Potomac, Bethesda, and Silver Spring, the better question remains:
What monthly payment works comfortably for my life?
Start there.
Then build the purchase price around it.
Market Theme #2: DC Metro Inventory Continues to Grow
This is probably the most important structural change happening in our local market.
Fresh August data from Realtor.com shows approximately 15,290 active listings across the Washington metro, up 13.8% from August 2025.
National inventory increased only 3.6% over the same period.
New listings in the Washington region also increased 2.5% year over year.
In other words:
The DC metro is gaining inventory considerably faster than the country overall.
That’s giving buyers something they haven’t consistently had:
Choice.
And choice changes behavior.
When buyers have eight reasonable homes to consider instead of two, they become more sensitive to:
- Price
- Condition
- Renovation quality
- Location
- Monthly payment
- Condo/HOA fees
- Seller concessions
- Days on market
That doesn’t mean buyers automatically control every negotiation.
It means sellers have to compete for them.
Market Theme #3: Asking Prices Are Feeling the Pressure
Here’s where the August numbers become particularly interesting.
Realtor.com’s Washington metro data shows the median asking price at approximately $565,000, down 5.8% from a year earlier.
Nationally, asking prices were down only 1.3%.
Approximately 19% of DC-area listings had experienced a price reduction, about 1.5 percentage points more than a year ago.
Now, an important distinction:
List price is not sale price.
Changes in the mix of homes coming onto the market can also influence median listing-price statistics.
So I would not interpret this as “Washington home values fell 5.8%.”
That’s not what the statistic says.
What it does tell us is that sellers are competing more aggressively for buyers.
And that’s important.
Market Theme #4: Homes Are Taking Longer to Sell
The typical Washington-area listing spent approximately 43 days on market in August, about 10.3% longer than one year earlier.
Interestingly, that’s still considerably faster than the national median of approximately 60 days.
So again, this isn’t a frozen market.
It’s a slower market.
Those are very different things.
And that distinction matters for sellers.
A house taking three or four weeks to sell isn’t necessarily failing.
The expectations simply need to change.
The days of:
List Thursday. Twenty showings Saturday. Twelve offers Monday.
were never going to last forever.
Market Theme #5: National Inventory Has Reached Its Highest Level Since 2019
The inventory shift isn’t limited to Washington.
Realt.com’s weekly housing data for the week ending August 29 showed approximately 1.15 million active listings nationally—the highest level since November 2019.
Active inventory increased 4.7% year over year, while new listings jumped 6.9%.
Meanwhile, the national median listing price fell 1.2% year over year, continuing a 33-week streak of year-over-year declines in asking prices.
This matters locally because buyers don’t make decisions in a vacuum.
Consumer expectations are influenced by what they hear nationally.
“More inventory.”
“Price reductions.”
“Longer days on market.”
That affects how aggressively buyers negotiate—even in neighborhoods where supply remains constrained.
Don’t Confuse More Inventory With Oversupply
There’s another important piece of context.
The latest Homes.com Washington report showed 20,308 homes for sale in July, 3.8 months of supply, and a median sale price of approximately $601,053.
Despite increased inventory, the July median sale price was still 0.2% higher than a year earlier.
And competitively priced, move-in-ready homes continued to sell relatively quickly.
That’s why I’m reluctant to slap the label “buyer’s market” across the entire DC metro.
We’re moving toward balance.
But balance doesn’t mean every seller is desperate.
Local Market Snapshot
Rockville
Rockville continues to benefit from established neighborhoods, Metro access, employment centers, amenities, and limited turnover in many desirable communities.
But countywide inventory growth means buyers can compare more properties.
For sellers, pricing against what sold six months ago without examining today’s active competition is increasingly dangerous.
North Potomac
North Potomac remains more supply constrained than many parts of the region, particularly for well-maintained detached homes in desirable school clusters.
Turnkey homes can still attract strong activity.
The dividing line increasingly is condition.
Buyers may pay a premium for finished.
They’re much more likely to discount something that needs substantial work.
Gaithersburg
Gaithersburg buyers are getting more opportunities to comparison shop.
That makes the difference between renovated and dated inventory increasingly obvious.
Sellers don’t necessarily need to renovate everything.
But the price needs to reflect what buyers will have to spend after settlement.
Silver Spring
Silver Spring continues to operate as several different micro-markets.
Close-in detached housing, Metro-accessible neighborhoods, condos, townhouses, and farther-out suburban communities can behave very differently.
Broad market statistics matter less here than neighborhood-level competition.
Potomac
Luxury buyers generally have flexibility.
And buyers with flexibility tend to be selective.
Premium pricing still works—but it needs premium execution behind it.
Condition, presentation, photography, marketing, and precise pricing matter enormously.
Germantown
Relative affordability remains Germantown’s biggest advantage.
With mortgage rates back above 6.7%, buyers who want Montgomery County but need to protect their monthly payment may increasingly consider Germantown.
Olney
Olney continues to benefit from comparatively limited turnover and strong demand for detached suburban housing.
Well-prepared inventory can outperform broader county trends.
Damascus
Damascus continues offering an affordability and space advantage.
For buyers willing to trade some commuting convenience for detached housing, larger lots, or additional square footage, that value proposition becomes more important when rates rise.
Frederick County
Frederick remains attractive to buyers seeking more house for their budget.
But buyers also have more alternatives throughout the broader region than they did a year ago.
That means Frederick sellers need to compete on condition and price—not simply rely on being cheaper than Montgomery County.
Prince George’s County
Relative affordability continues to support demand.
Longer market times can create negotiating opportunities for buyers, particularly where sellers originally priced aggressively.
Howard County
Howard County continues benefiting from employment access, established communities, schools, and its position between Washington and Baltimore.
As elsewhere, turnkey homes and correctly priced properties can behave very differently from listings requiring substantial work.
Washington, DC
DC deserves particular attention.
August metro inventory was up 13.8% year over year, median asking prices were down 5.8%, and roughly 19% of listings had experienced a price reduction.
That creates genuine negotiating opportunities.
But buyers still need to distinguish between:
“The seller has no leverage”
and
“This particular seller has no leverage.”
Those aren’t the same thing.
What This Means for Buyers
There is opportunity in this market.
You have more inventory.
You have more price reductions.
You generally have more time to make decisions.
You may have more ability to preserve inspections, negotiate repairs, request closing-cost assistance, or negotiate price.
But mortgage rates are working against you.
So don’t waste the improved negotiating environment chasing the wrong metric.
Getting $10,000 off the price is nice.
Getting the right house, at a sustainable payment, with favorable terms is better.
And remember:
A home sitting for 50 days with two price reductions is one negotiation.
A beautifully renovated North Potomac home that came on yesterday is another.
Negotiate the property—not the headline.
What This Means for Sellers
September’s message to sellers is pretty straightforward:
Competition is back.
That’s not a reason to panic.
It’s a reason to prepare.
Focus on the things you actually control:
- Pricing
- Condition
- Presentation
- Marketing
- Showing availability
- Offer terms
- Response to market feedback
If your home is sitting while competing properties are selling, the market is telling you something.
Listen.
The market doesn’t care what we hoped the house was worth.
Buyers vote with contracts.
5 Practical Takeaways
1. Mortgage rates moved higher
The 30-year fixed average increased from 6.66% to 6.71%, while the 15-year increased to 6.04%.
2. DC-area inventory continues to expand
Washington metro active listings increased 13.8% year over year in August, substantially faster than the national increase.
3. Sellers are adjusting prices
Approximately 19% of Washington-area listings experienced a price reduction in August.
4. Homes are taking longer to sell
Washington-area listings averaged approximately 43 days on market, 10.3% longer than last year.
5. More inventory doesn’t automatically mean falling home values
The latest Homes.com closed-sales data showed July’s Washington-area median sale price essentially flat year over year at approximately $601,000 despite increasing inventory.
Bottom Line
We’re entering the fall market with something buyers haven’t had much of over the past several years:
Options.
Inventory is growing.
Sellers are making more price adjustments.
Homes are taking longer to sell.
But prices haven’t broadly collapsed.
And mortgage rates remain high enough to keep affordability constrained.
That creates a market where neither side gets everything they want.
Which, inconveniently enough, is usually what a normal market looks like.
For buyers, opportunity comes from identifying where leverage actually exists.
For sellers, success comes from understanding that the first few weeks on the market matter more when buyers have alternatives.
More inventory doesn’t kill a good listing.
It exposes a mediocre strategy.
Sources & Reference Links
This September 4, 2026 update uses the September 3 Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the latest Realtor.com Weekly Housing Trends report, the August Realtor.com Washington DC Metro Housing Report, the latest Homes.com Washington DC Housing Market Report, and Maryland REALTORS housing statistics.
Different housing-data providers use different geographic boundaries and methodologies. Figures from Realtor.com, Homes.com, Freddie Mac, Bright MLS, and Maryland REALTORS should therefore be interpreted independently rather than combined as though they measure identical populations. Local city observations above are professional interpretations of broader county and regional trends unless a specific city-level statistic is expressly identified.
“Alex Saenger and the Saenger Group are Top 1% Maryland Real Estate Agents serving the Washington DC Metro area. We are licensed Realtors based in Rockville, MD at Century 21 New Millenium.”
