Published October 18, 2026 in Market Update

Fenway and Kenmore Square saw more deals, even with rates above 7%

By Liza Elmstrom

Real estate, The Fenway & Kenmore Square

Rates above 7% did not stop this market. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 42 homes sold in The Fenway and Kenmore Square in the three months ending August 31, 2026. That is up 55.6% from the same stretch a year before. Timing and preparation still matter here.

Realtor.com reported mortgage rates topped 7% for the first time since January 2025. Nationally, Fannie Mae forecast the average 30-year fixed rate at 7.4% for the fourth quarter of 2026, according to CNBC. Fenway and Kenmore Square kept moving anyway.

More buyers, but homes are taking longer to sell

The Real Estate Data Aggregator shows pending sales jumped 59.1% year over year. That is a real sign of demand. But the median home sat on the market for 46 days, 26 days longer than the same period in 2025. More activity does not always mean a quick sale.

Prices held up. Bidding wars mostly did not.

The Real Estate Data Aggregator put the median sale price at $744,500, up 4.1% from a year before. That is a real gain. But only 7.1% of homes sold above list price, down 18.8 points from last year. Sellers are getting close to their asking price, just not over it.

The average sale-to-list ratio came in at 97.6%, down 1.8 points from a year before, per the Real Estate Data Aggregator. Homes are selling, but buyers have a little more room to negotiate than they did in 2025.

More listings came to market too

The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 45 new listings in the three months ending August 31, 2026. That is up 18.4% from a year before. More choices for buyers, more competition for sellers. Months of supply dropped to 3.1, down 0.8 months from last year, so inventory is tighter than it looks.

Nearly 3 in 10 homes (28.6%) went under contract within two weeks of listing, per the Real Estate Data Aggregator. That share is up 5.9 points from a year before. Price it right and buyers are still moving fast.

What the broader picture says

Realtor.com reported median list prices fell 3.8% year over year across the Northeast region. Fenway and Kenmore Square bucked that trend, with the Real Estate Data Aggregator showing prices up 4.1%. This neighborhood is not following the regional script.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency reported U.S. house prices rose 2.6% from July 2025 to July 2026. The 4.1% gain here, per the Real Estate Data Aggregator, outpaced that national number. Small comfort if rates stay high, but it is real.

CNBC reported Fannie Mae expects the 30-year fixed rate to average 7.5% for all of 2027. Rates are not dropping fast. Buyers and sellers who wait for a big rate cut may be waiting a long time.

One more thing: these are ZIP-level numbers. One street in Fenway can look very different from the ZIP code as a whole. Your building type, floor, and exact block all change the picture.