San Francisco Housing Market Report, September 2026: 9 in 10 Houses Sold Over Asking

I pulled every closed house sale in San Francisco for September, and the headline is easy to remember. Nine out of ten houses sold for more than the asking price.

The short version

These are San Francisco single-family home sales that closed from September 1 to September 30, 2026, pulled from Compass on October 4, 2026. It covers houses only. It does not include condos, and it does not include Marin. I did not pull Marin's September numbers, so nothing here should be read as a Marin report.

The numbers

There were 194 house sales in the city in September (Compass, pulled Oct. 4, 2026). The median sold price was $2,005,000.

Of the 192 sales that had a list price, 174 sold over asking. That is 91%.

The median house sold for 29% over its list price. The average was a little higher, at 131% of list. The median time on market was 12 days.

And 31 houses sold for $1 million or more over asking. That is 31 separate sales in one month where the gap between the list price and the sold price was seven figures.

One example from West Portal

A three bedroom, one bath house in West Portal was listed at $999,000. It sold after one day on the market for $1,900,000 (Compass, pulled Oct. 4, 2026). That is nearly double the list price. Whatever the thinking behind the list price, the buyers set the value.

At the other end of the range, the largest dollar overbid of the month was in Presidio Heights, where a house listed at $11.0 million sold for $14.7 million, according to the same Compass data.

All of this with mortgage rates at 7.28%

What makes September stand out to me is the cost of money. Freddie Mac reported the 30-year fixed mortgage rate at 7.28% on October 1, 2026, the highest since late 2023.

So buyers were paying well over asking for San Francisco houses while borrowing was getting more expensive. I will not pretend to know exactly why from one month of data. What I can say is that higher rates did not show up as lower prices in September's closed house sales.

What it means if you own a house in San Francisco

The list price is not the price right now. It is the opening bid.

That has two consequences. The first is that you cannot judge your home's value by looking at asking prices on the portals. When the median house closes 29% over list, asking prices tell you about strategy, not value. Closed sales tell you about value.

The second is that how a house is prepared and priced can change the result by a lot. When 31 houses in a month sell for $1 million or more over asking, the spread between a good outcome and an average one is wide. I would rather a seller spend time on that plan than rush to market.

If your last valuation is more than a few months old, treat it as out of date.

What it means if you are buying

Do not build your budget around list prices. If you are shopping for houses listed at your maximum, September's numbers say most of them will close above it.

Look at what has actually closed in the area and price range you want, then work backward to the list prices that make sense for you. That is where I start with buyers, before we write an offer. Also remember this report is houses only. Condos are a different market with different numbers, and I did not include them here.

A note for estates and trusts

I work with probate attorneys and fiduciaries, and this matters to them in a specific way. A broker opinion from even six months ago may be well under where houses are closing today. If you are holding a San Francisco house in an estate or trust, closed sales are a better guide than list prices, and a current valuation is worth having before any decision about timing or repairs.

See what closed near you

Citywide medians are useful, but your block is what counts. You can read more about how I cover the city on my San Francisco page.

If you would like to see what closed near you in September, reach out and I will send you a free home value report. If you are buying, ask me for this week's list of homes that are not on the portals yet.

Sources: Compass, San Francisco single-family home sales closed Sept. 1 to 30, 2026, data pulled Oct. 4, 2026; Freddie Mac, 30-year fixed mortgage rate, Oct. 1, 2026. This article is general information, not tax or legal advice.