Montgomery County Real Estate: The Straight Read for the Week of September 15
Rates ticked up three weeks running, prices did their normal late-summer cool-down, and if you own a condo in North Bethesda or Rockville, this one's for you specifically. Here's what actually happened this week, no spin.
Every week I pull the actual numbers — not vibes, not “the market is crazy right now” — and tell you straight what's going on in Montgomery County. This week's headline: single-family homes are still playing like it's a seller's market, condos are playing like a buyer's market, and North Bethesda / Rockville condos specifically are playing a different game than the rest of the county. Let's get into it.
The mortgage rate: three weeks of “up,” not “down”
The 30-year fixed sits at 6.76%as of the week of September 10 (Freddie Mac's official weekly number — the one everyone else's “rates just dropped!” headline is quietly ignoring). That's the third straight weekly increase.
30-year fixed rate, weekly average. Source: Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS).
Don't wait on a rate drop to “unlock” the market. If rates do fall, every seller who's been sitting on a 3% mortgage lists at the same time as every sidelined buyer jumps back in. That's not a discount — that's a stampede. The window to move with less competition is often before rates drop, not after.
Prices: normal late-summer cooling, not a correction
County-wide median sold price landed at $640,000in August (+3.8% year over year), per Maryland Association of REALTORS / Bright MLS data. That's down from June's $680,000 read — and that's completely normal. Spring is always hotter than late summer here. Nobody should panic-sell or panic-buy off this chart.
Montgomery County median sold price by month, 2026. Sources: GCAAR (June), Bright MLS/Redfin blend (July), Maryland Association of REALTORS / Bright MLS (August). Month-to-month sourcing varies slightly — directionally accurate, not one continuous MLS series.
The three markets inside the market
This is the stat I use with every single client right now, buyer or seller. Montgomery County isn't one market — it's three, and they're moving at completely different speeds.
Median days on market by housing type, Bright MLS. Detached also carries the tightest supply at 1.62 months; condos sit at 4.84 months — nearly a three-month gap in a single county.
A well-priced detached house is basically gone in a week — 7 days on market, 1.62 months of supply. A townhome takes a bit longer to find its buyer but still moves fine. A condo is a completely different game: 30-plus days on market and nearly five months of supply. If you're selling a condo right now, you are not in the same market as your neighbor selling a rowhouse — plan your pricing and your patience accordingly.
If you only remember one thing from this week's update: North Bethesda and Rockville condos are softer than the county number even suggests. In zip 20852 (the heart of both), condo sales volume is down roughly 48% from 2022, average price is flat at $419K (basically unchanged in three years), and days on market climbed from 35 to 42 — while single-family homes in the exact same zip code appreciated almost 20% over that span. Same zip code, two completely different markets. If you own a condo there, or you're shopping for one, this changes your strategy.
Nine cities, one snapshot
Here's how the nine areas I work most stack up right now. Fair warning on a few of these: some of the smaller submarkets (Kensington, Chevy Chase, Takoma Park) don't have enough monthly sales to produce a clean, stable number — one $2M sale can swing a “median” hard. I'm telling you that instead of pretending the number is cleaner than it is.
| City | Median sold price | Days on market | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Bethesda | $485K–$695K (wide spread) | 49–101 | Condo softness confirmed — see callout below |
| Rockville | $644K–$715K | 27–29 | Price cuts up from 18.6% to 22.2% of listings YoY |
| Bethesda | $1.275M–$1.295M | 16–49 | Wide DOM spread across sources |
| Potomac | $1.24M–$1.28M | 22–33 | Volume up (175 vs. 125 YoY) even as price softened |
| Chevy Chase | $1.31M | 31 | Low sales count — treat YoY swings skeptically |
| Kensington | $690K–$1.2M | 13–36 | Low confidence — small sample size |
| Silver Spring | $642K | 32 | Downtown condo pocket down 11.6% YoY, 68 DOM |
| Gaithersburg | $545K–$546K | 34 | Most stable read of any city this week |
| Takoma Park | $595K | 43–72 | Conflicting DOM reads |
Sources: Redfin city/neighborhood pages, Bright MLS zip-level data (North Bethesda/Rockville condos), foxessellfaster.com (Bethesda). See full report for individual source links. Ranges reflect genuine conflicts across sources/snapshot dates, not rounding.
How I'd use this if you're selling
- Single-family: you're still in the driver's seat if the house is priced to the last 90 days of comps and shows well. Seven-day median DOM speaks for itself.
- Townhome: location and condition decide whether you get a quick sale or a slow one. Metro-adjacent, end-unit, renovated — still moves fast.
- Condo — especially North Bethesda/Rockville: price it expecting a real negotiation, not a bidding war. Get your HOA docs and reserve study ready before you list, not after an offer comes in and stalls on it.
How I'd use this if you're buying
- Single-family: get pre-approved and be ready to move same-week on the right house. You have more inventory than a year or two ago, but not a fire sale.
- Townhome: Metro-adjacent and end units go first — don't sleep if you find one.
- Condo in North Bethesda/Rockville: this is your window. Flat pricing, longer days on market, roughly half the competition from other buyers versus 2022. Negotiate on price, closing costs, and inspection — you have real leverage here.
That's the read for this week. Numbers move, I'll keep tracking them — if you want the specifics for your street or your building, just reach out.
— Mark
Sources: Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey (week of 9/10/26); Maryland Association of REALTORS / Bright MLS via Washington Informer (9/14/26); GCAAR via MoCo Show (7/24/26); Bright MLS August 2026 Housing Market Report (GlobeNewswire, 9/10/26); Bright MLS via RLAH Real Estate; Bright MLS zip-level data (20852) via mattsold.com (as of 8/24/26); Redfin city and neighborhood pages; foxessellfaster.com Bethesda market page.
Some figures above come from sources that disagree with each other — normal for real estate data, and noted rather than hidden.
Want the specifics for your street or building?
Reach out and I'll walk you through it.