Berkeley’s median closed price rebounded to $950,000 in September 2026, and the homes that sold moved in a median of five days at 103.1 percent of list price, the first month above full list price since this data series began in January 2023.
Last month’s Berkeley update was about a price headline the rest of the data flatly contradicted. September is the opposite case. The median closed price for a single-family home came in at $950,000, up about 28 percent from August, and this time nearly every metric underneath it moved in the same direction.
All figures here are September 2026 single-family numbers for Berkeley, pulled from REcolorado through InfoSparks. Closed data runs a month behind by design, since a home that went under contract in August shows up as a September closing. Only 11 homes closed in Berkeley that month, which is a small enough sample that the median still deserves caution.
What makes September different from August is corroboration. Days on market, percent of list price received, and showings to pending all moved with the price rather than against it. At the same time, the number of homes available in Berkeley kept climbing. Those two facts together are the real story, and they pull in opposite directions.
What Berkeley’s September numbers show
Here is the month in full, with August 2026 and September 2025 alongside for context:
- Median closed price: $950,000, up from $741,000 in August and down from $995,000 in September 2025
- Average closed price: $1,340,758, up from $917,867 in August and $1,046,500 in September 2025
- Closed listings: 11, down from 16 in August and level with 11 in September 2025
- Median days in MLS: 5, down from 18 in August and 35 in September 2025
- Median percent of list price received: 103.1 percent, up from 98.2 percent in August and 95.9 percent in September 2025
- Median showings to pending: 7, down from 8 in August and 11 in September 2025
- Active listings: 45, up from 39 in August and 40 in September 2025
- Months supply of inventory: 3.1, up from 2.6 in August and 2.8 in September 2025
Read top to bottom, the speed lines improve sharply while the supply lines loosen. Both of those are true at once, and neither cancels the other out.
Why the median jumped 28 percent, and what it does not prove
A median is the middle sale. It describes which homes changed hands that month, not what any individual home is worth. With 11 closings, the middle sale is whichever property happens to land there, and September’s mix sat higher in Berkeley’s range than August’s did.
The gap between the median and the average makes the point better than the median does. September’s average closed price of $1,340,758 sits about 41 percent above the median of $950,000. That is the widest spread of any month in the series, which runs back to January 2023 and covers 45 months. The previous record was about 36 percent, in April 2023.
A gap that wide is the signature of a few very large sales sitting at the top of the month. The average is the number to set aside here, not the median. Quoting it as a neighborhood figure would overstate the market by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Year over year, the median is down about 4.5 percent from $995,000 in September 2025. The honest summary is that Berkeley prices are roughly flat to slightly softer against last year, and that August’s $741,000 was the outlier rather than September’s $950,000.
Five days on market and 103.1 percent of list price
This is where September stops being about which homes sold and starts being about how they sold. The median Berkeley home that closed in September spent five days in the MLS. That is the lowest figure for any September in the series, and the comparable Septembers were 18 days in 2023, 36 in 2024 and 35 in 2025.
The percent of list price received is the more striking number. Berkeley’s median closing came in at 103.1 percent of list price, the only month above 100 percent in the entire 45-month series. Fifteen prior months landed exactly at full list price, and none cleared it. Across the Denver metro in the same month, homes closed at 98.45 percent of list price, according to the DMAR Market Trends Report for September 2026.
The gap between Berkeley’s median and average days in MLS is worth sitting with. The median was 5 days; the average was 33. Most of September’s closings went under contract almost immediately, while a handful sat for a long stretch and dragged the average up. The metro median was 32 days, so Berkeley’s fast half moved at roughly a sixth of the metro pace while its slow tail looked ordinary.
Inventory is building underneath the fast sales
None of the above means Berkeley got tighter. It did the reverse. Sellers added 27 new listings in September, well above the 16 added in September 2025. Active listings finished the month at 45, up from 39 in August and 40 a year earlier. Months supply rose to 3.1 from 2.6 in August, the highest reading since July 2025.
Showing activity tells the same story from the demand side. Showings per listing came in at 4.5, down from 6.3 in August and level with 4.5 in September 2025. More homes are competing for a pool of buyer attention that has not grown with them. Pending sales finished at 15, down from 20 in September 2025.
Berkeley is still tighter than the metro as a whole, which carried 4.76 months of inventory and 13,567 active listings at the end of September. But the direction of travel is toward more choice, and that is what makes the pricing question sharper rather than easier.
What this means for pricing a Berkeley home this fall
Two things are true in Berkeley right now. A correctly priced home can go under contract in under a week and close above asking. And there are more homes on the market than at any point since the spring, with fewer showings spread across them.
Those are not contradictory. When supply rises and buyer attention is finite, activity concentrates on the listings priced to the block from day one. The 103.1 percent median is not evidence that any Berkeley listing will clear asking. It is evidence that the ones that got the price right drew competition quickly, while the long tail in that 33-day average sat.
The practical implication is that the first two weeks carry most of the outcome. A list price set from the neighborhood median rather than from the comparable sales on your own block is the most common way to end up in the slow half of that split.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Berkeley housing market going up or down?
Month to month it rose, with the median closed price up about 28 percent from August to $950,000. Year over year it is down about 4.5 percent from $995,000 in September 2025. With only 11 closings in the month, the year-over-year comparison is the more reliable of the two, and it points to roughly flat pricing.
How fast are homes selling in Berkeley right now?
The median home that closed in September spent five days in the MLS and took a median of seven showings to go under contract. Both are the lowest September figures in the series. The average was 33 days, so the speed was concentrated rather than universal.
Why is the average Berkeley home price so much higher than the median?
September’s average of $1,340,758 sits about 41 percent above the median of $950,000, the widest gap in the 45-month series. That pattern comes from a small number of high-end sales in a month with only 11 closings. The median is the better figure to quote.
How much inventory is available in Berkeley?
There were 45 active listings at the end of September, up from 39 in August and 40 a year earlier, with 27 new listings added and 15 homes going under contract. Months supply rose to 3.1, the highest reading since July 2025.
Did Berkeley homes really sell above list price?
The median closing came in at 103.1 percent of list price, the only month above 100 percent since the series began in January 2023. That is a median across 11 sales, so it describes the middle of a small group rather than a guarantee for any individual listing.
Where can I get numbers for my specific block in Berkeley?
Neighborhood medians are too broad to price a single property, particularly in a month this thin. Jason Sirois, a Real Estate Advisor with FORM at Compass Denver, can run a block-level analysis using the comparable sales that actually apply to your home, its condition and its lot. Reach out through our Berkeley community page to get that started, or read last month’s Berkeley August market update for the prior month’s figures.
All figures are September 2026 single-family data for the Berkeley neighborhood, sourced from REcolorado via InfoSparks, with Denver metro comparisons from the DMAR Market Trends Report for September 2026 data. Market data is provided for general information only and is not an appraisal, and is not tax, legal, or financial advice. For guidance on your own situation, consult a qualified professional.
