Everyone Says Homes Are Still Flying Off the Market. Here's What the Data Actually Says.

A lot of sellers still walk into this market expecting the same thing that happened last year: a quick contract, multiple offers, no time to think. That expectation is not crazy. It was true not long ago.

Here's what the data actually says.

Over the twelve weeks ending August 30, 2026, across this territory, the median days on market rose to 61 days. A year earlier, over the same twelve-week window, that number sat at 54 days. That is not noise. It is a statistically significant, territory-wide shift, and it tells you the market is not moving at the pace most sellers still assume.

I want to be clear about what that means and what it does not mean. It does not mean homes stopped selling. It does not mean prices collapsed. It means buyers have more room to think before they commit, and sellers who price and prepare like it is still last year's market are the ones who end up chasing it.

The slowdown is not the same everywhere, and that is the part sellers need to understand before they set a list price.

In Baltimore, the pace is the slowest in the territory. Homes there are taking a median of 61 days to go under contract.

Columbia tells a different story. In one of the Columbia markets, the median time to pending runs a month faster, at 31 days. That is one metric describing two very different markets inside the same buy box.

That gap is the real lesson here. A territory-wide number tells you the direction things are heading. It does not tell you what your specific street is doing right now. Sellers who anchor their pricing strategy to "the market" instead of their own neighborhood are working from the wrong data.

Here's the part that surprises people: slower does not automatically mean weaker. It means the negotiation has changed shape. Buyers are not skipping inspections and waiving contingencies to win a bidding war the way they might have a year ago. They are asking questions, comparing options, and taking the extra week or two to make sure they are comfortable. That is a different kind of market to sell into, not a worse one.

If you are getting ready to list, the real question is not "how do I get in before the market gets faster." It probably will not, and I am not going to promise you a number I cannot back up. The real question is how you price and present the home so it performs well in the market that actually exists right now, not the one from a year ago.

What I would watch from here: whether that 61-day median holds, tightens back toward last year's pace, or keeps drifting out. That is the number that will tell us whether this is a temporary pause or a real reset in how long sellers should expect to wait.

Save this for when you are ready to list, and let's talk pricing strategy before you put a sign in the yard.

Tamika R. Johnson, MBA