Published October 25, 2026 in Market Update

Less inventory is helping the homes that are ready

By Christopher Fry | Realtor

Real estate, North Fort Collins

Nationally, Realtor.com reported that price cuts hit 4-year highs in September 2026. That is a real trend in a lot of markets. North Fort Collins is telling a somewhat different story, and the reason comes down to supply.

The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 236 homes for sale in ZIP 80524 during the three months ending August 31, 2026. That is down 18.1% from the same period a year before. Fewer choices for buyers tends to support prices, and that is exactly what the numbers show here.

Lower supply is helping, but it is not doing all the work

The Real Estate Data Aggregator shows the median sale price in ZIP 80524 reached $593,366 for the three months ending August 31, 2026. That is up 7.1% from the same period in 2025. For context, the Federal Housing Finance Agency reported that U.S. home prices rose just 2.6% from July 2025 to July 2026. North Fort Collins is outpacing the national number by a meaningful margin.

Some of that is supply doing its job. New listings fell 21.9% compared to a year ago, according to the Real Estate Data Aggregator. When fewer homes come to market, the ones that do show up face less competition. That helps sellers, within reason.

Here is the part that matters most for anyone pricing a home right now. The Real Estate Data Aggregator shows that 98.9% sale-to-list ratio has not budged from a year ago. Sellers are not getting more than they ask. They are getting close to it, when they ask a realistic number.

Nearly 1 in 3 homes went under contract within two weeks

The Real Estate Data Aggregator found that 32.9% of homes in ZIP 80524 went under contract within two weeks of listing during the three months ending August 31, 2026. That share is up 4.2 points from a year ago. Buyers are moving quickly on homes that are priced and presented well.

The flip side: the median days on market was still 54 days, per the Real Estate Data Aggregator. That means a meaningful number of homes are sitting. The market is not lifting all boats equally. Well-priced homes are moving. Others are waiting.

What about buyers right now?

Mortgage rates topped 7% in September 2026, according to Realtor.com. That is not a small number. CNBC reported that a monthly payment on a 30-year fixed mortgage for a median-priced home took up roughly 33% of a median family's income in 2025, compared to 26% in 2022. Buyers feel that difference.

That is part of why the Real Estate Data Aggregator shows homes sold in ZIP 80524 fell 7.3% from a year ago, with 164 closed sales in the three months ending August 31, 2026. Fewer people are buying, partly because fewer can comfortably afford to. The buyers who are active tend to be deliberate. They are not going to overpay for a home that is not ready.

The short version for sellers

Lower inventory is real, and it is helping. But it is not a substitute for realistic pricing and good preparation. The Real Estate Data Aggregator shows only 15.9% of homes sold above list price in the three months ending August 31, 2026, down 3.9 points from a year ago. Bidding wars are not the norm here. Getting close to your list price is the realistic goal, and that only happens when the price is right to begin with.

One more thing worth saying: these numbers cover all of ZIP 80524. One street or one neighborhood can read very differently from the ZIP code as a whole. What is happening two blocks over may not match what you see here.