Published October 13, 2026 in Market Update

One part of the market is moving fast, but not all of it

By Penny Daniels

Real estate, Primary market

Rates matter. Realtor.com reported that mortgage rates surged above 7% for the first time since January 2025, and Freddie Mac put the 30-year fixed rate at 7.40% as of October 8, 2026. That slows some buyers down. But here in the North Country, rates are only part of the story. The bigger story is how differently each town is behaving right now.

Six days versus 87 days: same market, very different results

The Real Estate Data Aggregator tracked homes sold across this market for the three months ending August 31, 2026. The spread in speed is wide. In ZIP 12928, the median home sat on the market just 6 days. In ZIP 12936, the median was 87 days. Those two numbers tell you this is not one market. It is many.

Speed alone does not tell the whole story. Look at what buyers were willing to pay, too.

Where buyers paid close to list, and where they did not

ZIP 12974 averaged 101% of list price, according to the Real Estate Data Aggregator. That means some buyers paid over asking. ZIP 12950 averaged 82.6%. That is a big gap. Sellers in slower ZIPs are accepting real discounts.

The Plattsburgh ZIP had the most activity

ZIP 12901, which covers much of the Plattsburgh area, had the highest volume. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 75 homes sold and 112 pending sales in the three months ending August 31, 2026. That is up 31.6% in sales from the same three months in 2025. The median sale price rose 6.8% year over year to $267,000.

More sales, higher prices, more pending. But homes are taking 21 days longer to sell than they did a year ago in that same ZIP. Both things are true at once. That is worth knowing if you are pricing a home there right now.

The Chazy area is one of the quickest spots in the market

ZIP 12962 had a median of 10 days on market, and the Real Estate Data Aggregator shows that a third of homes went under contract within two weeks of listing. The median sale price jumped 53.8% year over year to $347,500. That is a big move, and the small number of sales means one or two higher-priced homes can shift the median a lot. Still, the direction is clear.

The Essex area is a different story

ZIP 12936, which covers the Essex area along Lake Champlain, had a median of 87 days on market. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted just 5 homes sold and 4 new listings in those three months. The median sale price was $650,000. With small numbers like that, one sale can move the median. But the pace is slow, and no homes went under contract within two weeks of listing.

How quickly are homes going under contract across the market?

What rates mean for buyers right now

Freddie Mac reported the 30-year fixed rate at 7.40% as of October 8, 2026. The 15-year fixed came in at 6.73%. Realtor.com noted that rates reached their highest level in nearly three years. That adds real cost to a monthly payment. Buyers in slower parts of the market may have more room to negotiate on price. Buyers in faster ZIPs like 12928 and 12962 may not.

Nationally, the National Association of Realtors reported that existing-home sales fell 2.0% month over month in August 2026. But year-to-date sales through the first eight months of 2026 are still up 1.6% from the same period a year ago. The national picture and the North Country picture do not always match.

Across the whole market, demand is still there

The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 234 pending sales across the primary market in the three months ending August 31, 2026. New listings came in at 229 for the same period. More homes going under contract than coming to market is a sign that demand is holding, even with rates above 7%.