Published October 8, 2026 in Market Update

DOTW Buy Box Has Fewer Listings, but Sales Are Still Holding Up

By Latryl Russell

Real estate, DOTW Buy Box

The biggest thing to know right now: there are fewer homes to choose from, but deals are still getting done. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 2,474 homes for sale across the DOTW Buy Box in the three months ending August 31, 2026. That is down 11.5% from the same months of 2025. Choice is tighter. But 2,203 homes still sold, up 1.4% year over year. The market is moving.

Nationally, Realtor.com reported 1.16 million active listings in September 2026. That sounds like plenty. But here in the DOTW Buy Box, the Real Estate Data Aggregator shows the opposite trend: inventory is shrinking, not growing. If you are a buyer, that means fewer options. If you are a seller, it means less competition.

Rates Are Adding Pressure for Everyone

Mortgage rates are not helping. CNBC reported the average 30-year fixed rate rose to 7.30% last week. Mortgage News Daily put it even higher, at 7.58% on Tuesday. Realtor.com noted rates climbed above 7% for the first time since January 2025. Higher rates slow some buyers down. That may be part of why new listings across the DOTW Buy Box slipped too.

Nationally, Realtor.com found 20.8% of listings took a price cut in September 2026, the highest share since October 2022. That is a real signal. Sellers who price carefully are still closing. Sellers who stretch are cutting. The DOTW Buy Box data tells a similar story ZIP by ZIP.

How Each ZIP Code Stacked Up

Not every ZIP moved the same way. Some sold faster than a year ago. Some saw prices dip a little. Here is what the Real Estate Data Aggregator counted for the three months ending August 31, 2026.

Most ZIP codes saw sale prices ease a little from a year ago. That is honest and worth knowing. The Federal Housing Finance Agency reported U.S. house prices rose 2.6% year over year through July 2026. Our local numbers are more mixed. ZIP 76132 bucked the trend with a 7% gain. ZIP 76013 edged up 1.6%. The rest dipped.

Speed: Some ZIPs Are Moving Fast

Days on market tells you how quickly sellers are finding buyers. Across the DOTW Buy Box, the picture varies a lot by ZIP.

ZIP 75052 led at 33 days, 2 days shorter than a year before. ZIP 76013 was close behind at 35 days, also 4 days faster. ZIP 76123 cut 18 days off its median, a big improvement. ZIP 76052 sat at 62 days, 1 day longer than last year. Not every home is selling fast, and that is worth knowing before you set a price.

How Many Homes Went Under Contract in Two Weeks

This number tells you how many listings found a buyer within 14 days of hitting the market. A higher share means more urgency from buyers.

ZIP 75052 stood out. The Real Estate Data Aggregator found 42.3% of homes there went under contract within two weeks, up 9 points from a year before. ZIP 76013 was close at 38.7%, up 6.7 points. ZIP 76126 hit 37.3%, up 12.2 points. ZIP 76052 was the slowest at 13.1%, though that edged up 0.6 points.

What Sellers Are Getting vs. List Price

The sale-to-list ratio tells you how close to asking price homes are actually closing. Across the DOTW Buy Box, sellers are still getting close to their number.

Every ZIP in the DOTW Buy Box closed above 97% of list price. ZIP 76013 led at 99.1%, up 1.2 points from last year. ZIP 76132 jumped 3.6 points to 98.2%. ZIP 76126 gained 0.6 points. A few ZIPs slipped a little. ZIP 76052 was down 0.5 points to 97.9%. Small moves, but worth watching when you set your list price.

Inventory Fell in Most ZIPs

The drop in homes for sale was not spread evenly. Some ZIPs lost a lot of supply. One gained.

ZIP 76063 saw the sharpest drop, with inventory down 36.7%. ZIP 76123 fell 29.9% and ZIP 76177 fell 29.1%. ZIP 76179 was the one ZIP where supply grew, up 14.4%. That is a meaningful difference from the rest of the market.

Months of Supply: Most ZIPs Are in Balance

Months of supply tells you how long it would take to sell every home currently listed, at the current pace. Below 6 months generally favors sellers.

Every ZIP in the DOTW Buy Box came in below 5 months of supply. ZIP 76244 was tightest at 2.4 months, down 0.4 months from last year. ZIP 76132 had the most supply at 4.4 months, but that is still down 1.5 months from a year before. All eleven ZIPs saw supply fall or hold steady, except ZIP 76179 and ZIP 76131, each up just 0.2 months.

One more thing worth saying plainly: one street can read very differently from the whole ZIP code. The numbers above cover broad areas. Your specific block, your home's size, its condition and its price point all shape what buyers will do. If you want to know where your home sits inside these numbers, I am happy to walk through it with you.