Published October 4, 2026 in Market Update

Primary market sales rose even with mortgage rates above 7%

By Beth DeAngelis

Real estate, Primary market

Freddie Mac put the 30-year fixed rate at 7.28% on October 1, 2026. That is the headline number your payment math starts with right now.

Rates that high slow a lot of markets. They did not stop this one. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 1,156 homes sold across the Primary market in the three months ending July 31, 2026, and that number was up 4% from the same three months of 2025.

Pending sales across the Primary market rose 4.7% year over year, according to the Real Estate Data Aggregator. That tells you demand was still moving forward, not pulling back, even as payments climbed.

The National Association of Realtors reported that existing-home sales across the country fell 2.0% in August 2026. The Primary market moved in the opposite direction during that same window.

Realtor.com reported that active listings nationally were up 6.3% from a year ago as of October 1, 2026. Here, the Real Estate Data Aggregator shows homes for sale were down 10.9% year over year. Less supply with more sales is a different story than the national one.

How each ZIP code read in the three months ending July 31, 2026

The four ZIP codes inside this market did not all move the same way. Here is what the Real Estate Data Aggregator counted in each one.

ZIP 29910: the biggest move in the market

The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 388 homes sold in ZIP 29910 in the three months ending July 31, 2026. That was up 19.8% from the same three months of 2025, the strongest year-over-year gain of any ZIP code here.

The median sale price in ZIP 29910 rose 15% year over year to $595,000, according to the Real Estate Data Aggregator. Homes for sale there fell 21% from a year before, and pending sales rose 17%. When supply drops that fast and sales rise that fast, prices tend to follow.

ZIP 29926: the tightest supply

The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted only 183 homes for sale in ZIP 29926 in the three months ending July 31, 2026. That was down 24.7% from a year before, the sharpest inventory drop of any ZIP code in this market.

ZIP 29926 also had the fastest pace: 31.4% of homes went under contract within two weeks of listing, up 5.4 points from a year ago, according to the Real Estate Data Aggregator. Median days on market came in at 40, which was 3 days shorter than the same period of 2025.

ZIP 29928: more choices, a little more time

ZIP 29928 had the most homes for sale of any ZIP code here. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 489 available in the three months ending July 31, 2026, and 4.7 months of supply, the highest in the market.

The median sale price in ZIP 29928 dipped 5.4% year over year to $737,450, according to the Real Estate Data Aggregator. Not every home moved fast: median days on market was 48, though that was 5 days shorter than a year ago, which is a small but honest sign that pace improved even where supply was fullest.

ZIP 29909: more listings, longer waits

New listings in ZIP 29909 rose 13.7% year over year in the three months ending July 31, 2026, according to the Real Estate Data Aggregator. More homes came to market, and buyers had more time to decide: median days on market was 73, which was 2 days longer than a year before.

Even so, the Real Estate Data Aggregator shows pending sales in ZIP 29909 rose 6.2% year over year, and 19.3% of homes went under contract within two weeks of listing, up 7.3 points from a year ago. Buyers were still moving, just not at the same pace as in 29926 or 29910.

What the wider picture adds

CNBC reported that the average contract rate for 30-year fixed mortgages with conforming loan balances rose to 7.30% in the week ending September 30, 2026. Freddie Mac put the same rate at 7.28% on October 1, 2026 - those two readings confirm the same ceiling.

Realtor.com reported that mortgage rates rose nearly 40 basis points over the four weeks ending September 30, 2026, and that homes under contract nationally were down 4.1% year over year. The Primary market's pending sales moved the opposite way, up 4.7% in the same window, according to the Real Estate Data Aggregator.

The National Association of Realtors reported 4.9 months of supply nationally as of October 4, 2026, the highest in over ten years. Three of the four ZIP codes here sat below that number. ZIP 29926 was at 3.0 months and ZIP 29910 at 3.1 months, both well under the national reading.

How fast homes are moving by ZIP code