Published October 18, 2026 in Market Update

Primary market inventory stayed tight even as national listings grew

By Karen Larson

Real estate, Primary market

The national picture and the local picture are moving in opposite directions. Realtor.com reported for-sale listings across the U.S. were growing nearly 7% year over year for the week ending October 10, 2026. In ZIP 53129, the Real Estate Data Aggregator counted just 14 homes for sale in the three months ending August 31, 2026. That is down 39.1% from the same period a year before.

Fewer choices for buyers does not mean every seller wins automatically. The Real Estate Data Aggregator shows the median sale price in ZIP 53129 was $400,000, down 4.9% from the same three months in 2025. Prices dipped a little even with supply this tight. Pricing well still matters.

Homes that do sell are moving quickly and often above list

The Real Estate Data Aggregator found that 65.7% of homes in ZIP 53129 went under contract within two weeks of listing. That share is down 5.1 points from a year before, so the pace has eased slightly. Still, more than 3 in 5 homes found a buyer fast. The average sale-to-list ratio was 103.2%, meaning homes sold above their asking price on average. That ratio is down 1.5 points from a year before, but it is still well above 100%.

What the national backdrop adds to the story

Freddie Mac put the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate at 7.40% as of October 15, 2026. That rate is a real cost for buyers. The National Association of Realtors reported existing-home sales across the U.S. reached 3.99 million units in September 2026, with national inventory at 1.60 million homes. National prices were up 1.3% in September 2026, according to the National Association of Realtors. ZIP 53129 moved differently, with prices down 4.9% locally over the same seasonal window.

With 0.9 months of supply, ZIP 53129 sits well below what most economists consider a balanced market. The Real Estate Data Aggregator recorded 35 pending sales in the three months ending August 31, 2026, down 27.1% from a year before. Fewer homes under contract can reflect fewer homes available to choose from, not only softer demand.

One street can read very differently from the ZIP code as a whole. A home on one block may see more competition than one two streets over. The numbers above cover all of ZIP 53129 for the three months ending August 31, 2026.