What this month’s numbers say
The latest report covers August 2026. Here’s the short version, all for single-family homes.
Ada County (Boise, Meridian, Eagle, Star, Kuna). The median sale price was $595,000, up 6.9% from August 2025 and down 1.2% from July. There were 955 closed sales, up 14.8% year over year. Active inventory was 1,979 homes, down 10.6%, which works out to 2.4 months of supply. Pending sales were 1,269, up 11.2% on the year but down 8.2% from July (all Boise Regional REALTORS®, August 2026 report, IMLS data as of September 8, 2026).
That last number is the one I’m watching. Pendings are deals going under contract now, so a one-month drop is an early hint of how fall may go. One month isn’t a trend, and I’d treat it carefully.
Resale vs. new construction. This is the split I care about most, because new construction is my niche. Resale homes had a $579,900 median, 1.9 months of supply and 30 days on market. New construction had a $629,000 median, 3.4 months of supply and 54 days on market (Boise Regional REALTORS®, August 2026). In plain terms: resale is tight, and new builds carry nearly half the county’s inventory and take almost twice as long to sell. That’s where buyers currently have the most room to negotiate. My builder incentives guide explains how to use it.
Canyon County (Nampa, Caldwell). Boise Regional REALTORS® doesn’t publish Canyon County publicly, so I use two other sources. Redfin put Canyon County’s median at $438,478 for the three months ending August 2026, up 3.1%. Top Idaho Real Estate, using IMLS data, put Nampa’s August median at $433,000, also up 3.1%. These come from different sources and different time windows, so compare them to Ada County loosely. Roughly, Canyon County sits $150,000 or more below Ada.
Rates. The 30-year fixed averaged 7.03% on September 24, 2026, up from 6.30% a year earlier (Freddie Mac PMMS). It was the first time above 7% since January 2025 (NPR, September 24, 2026). Rates rose on inflation worries.
How I read numbers like these for one person
A county median is an average of thousands of different situations. It doesn’t tell you what your Meridian home is worth or what you’ll pay for a new build in Kuna. So when someone asks me about “the market,” I bring it back to three questions.
What are you actually buying or selling? If you’re selling a resale home, you’re competing in a 1.9-month market, but you’re also competing with new builds nearby that may come with incentives. If you’re buying new construction, you’re in the looser part of the market.
What does the payment look like? I spent eleven years as a financial advisor, so I start with the monthly cost, not the headline price. At 7.03%, a $595,000 home with 20% down runs about $3,176 a month in principal and interest alone, roughly $230 more than at last year’s 6.30% (illustration based on Freddie Mac PMMS, September 24, 2026; excludes taxes, insurance, HOA and mortgage insurance).
What’s your timeline? Here’s how I’d sum up this fall: sellers are holding the numbers, and buyers are holding the calendar. Prices are up on the year, but pendings slipped and rates climbed. If you aren’t in a hurry, that gives you time to be choosy. If you need to move, I’d plan around the payment you can carry today rather than a rate nobody can promise.
What the forecasters said, and why I don’t forecast
I don’t predict prices or rates, and I’d be wary of anyone who does it as fact. When I mention outlook, I’ll tell you whose forecast it is and when they made it.
In August 2026, Fannie Mae’s Housing Forecast (August 13) projected 30-year rates around 6.8% for the fourth quarter of 2026, and the Mortgage Bankers Association (August 20) projected about 6.7%. Both forecasts are national, and both came out before rates crossed 7% in September. No dated, institutional price forecast specific to Boise was available when I checked.
Monthly updates
I publish a new update every month, usually the day after Boise Regional REALTORS® releases its report. Each one has the full tables, the community callouts, payment examples at current rates, and my plain-English read. The latest is the October 2026 update on August data, and past months are listed below.
If you’re selling and want to know where your home fits in all this, start with what your home is worth. If you’d like to talk through your own numbers, book a call.