Published November 1, 2026 in Market Update

Mid Cape still looks tighter than the national housing backdrop

By Liza Elmstrom

Real estate, Mid Cape

Nationally, Realtor.com reported that 20.8% of listings took a price cut in September, the highest share since October 2022. Mid Cape does not look like that. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 411 pending sales across Mid Cape in the three months ending August 31, 2026, against only 290 homes for sale. More buyers under contract than homes on the shelf. That gap is the story here.

That ratio matters for pricing. When buyers outnumber listings, sellers do not need to cut. Nationally, mortgage rates climbed back above 7% for the first time since January 2025, according to Realtor.com. Redfin put the weekly average at 7.32% for the four weeks ending October 25, 2026. Rates that high slow buyers in many markets. Here, demand is still outrunning supply, so the pressure is different.

What the numbers say, ZIP by ZIP

Prices moved in different directions across Mid Cape. Some ZIPs rose sharply. A few dipped. The Real Estate Data Aggregator tracked all of them for the three months ending August 31, 2026.

Dennis led at $874,500, though the Real Estate Data Aggregator showed that was down 3.4% from a year earlier. West Yarmouth jumped 13%, landing at $555,000. South Dennis rose 9.5% to $805,000. Harwich Port dropped 47.1% to $592,500, but only 20 homes sold there, so one or two outliers can move a median that much. Take that one with a grain of salt.

Homes are still selling close to asking

In a market with price cuts spreading nationally, sellers here are still getting paid. The Real Estate Data Aggregator showed Brewster averaging exactly 100% of list price. West Harwich came in at 100.4%. Yarmouth Port hit 99.5%. That is not what a soft market looks like.

Speed: most homes are not sitting

The Real Estate Data Aggregator put the median days on market at 13 in West Dennis, 16 in both South Yarmouth and Harwich, and 22 in West Yarmouth and Dennis Port. West Harwich was the slowest at 34 days, but even that came down 8 days from a year earlier. Nationally, Realtor.com reported active listings topped 1.16 million in September 2026. Mid Cape is not sitting in that pile.

Homes going under contract fast

The Real Estate Data Aggregator tracked how many homes went under contract within two weeks of listing. West Yarmouth led at 57.5%, up 26.7 points from a year ago. Brewster hit 49.2%, up 28.2 points. Harwich Port reached 46.2%, up 22.2 points. More than 4 in 10 homes in several ZIPs were gone within two weeks. That is not a market flush with choices for buyers.

Supply is still lean, almost everywhere

Months of supply measures how long it would take to sell every home currently listed, at the current pace. The Real Estate Data Aggregator showed most Mid Cape ZIPs sitting between 1.8 and 2.8 months. West Harwich was the exception at 4.2 months, the only ZIP that feels closer to balanced. The rest lean toward sellers. For context, the Federal Housing Finance Agency reported U.S. house prices rose 2.4% year over year through August 2026. Mid Cape is running its own race.

One thing to keep in mind: these numbers cover whole ZIP codes. One street can read very differently from the ZIP around it. Pricing and timing decisions really do need to be based on what is happening at the street level, not just the headline.