Published October 4, 2026 in Market Update

Inventory is down across Fairfield County, CT, and the fastest sales are in the tightest markets

By tara chlupsa

Real estate, DOTW Buy Box

The number that changes what you should do right now: Freddie Mac put the 30-year fixed rate at 7.28% as of October 1, 2026. That is the highest it has been since January 2025, according to Realtor.com. Buyers are paying more to borrow. And yet the Real Estate Data Aggregator counted only 239 homes for sale across DOTW Buy Box in the three months ending July 31, 2026. That is down 12.8% from a year before. Rates went up. Choice did not.

Pending sales across the five ZIP codes held nearly flat. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 424 pending sales, down just 0.2% from a year before. Buyers are still signing contracts. The market did not stall.

What the national picture adds

Nationally, Realtor.com reported that price cuts hit 20.8% of listings in September 2026, the highest share since October 2022. Active listings topped 1.16 million homes nationally. That is the country. DOTW Buy Box is a different story. Supply here is still thin, and homes priced right are still moving.

Jobs data adds some caution. Redfin reported that the economy created just 29,000 jobs in September, well below the 90,000 expected. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2%. A softer job market can cool buyer confidence. It has not stopped deals here yet, but it is worth watching.

Inside each ZIP code

The five ZIP codes in DOTW Buy Box do not all read the same. Here is what the Real Estate Data Aggregator counted for the three months ending July 31, 2026.

Where homes are moving fastest

ZIP 06850 and 06851 in Norwalk are the tightest part of the Buy Box right now. The Real Estate Data Aggregator shows that in 06850, more than half of homes, 51.3%, went under contract within two weeks of listing. That share jumped 16.3 points from a year before. In 06851, exactly 50% did. Nearly 7 in 10 homes in each of those ZIPs sold above list price.

Westport, CT: the highest prices, and still moving

ZIP 06880 in Westport had a median sale price of $2,421,500 in the three months ending July 31, 2026, up 22.8% from a year before, according to the Real Estate Data Aggregator. Homes for sale there fell 34.9%. That is the sharpest inventory drop in the Buy Box. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted just 69 homes for sale. Homes still sold at 104.7% of list price on average.

06903: the highest sale to list, but fewer sales

ZIP 06903 in Stamford, CT had the highest average sale to list price in the group: 107.7%, per the Real Estate Data Aggregator. But homes sold there fell 34.6% from a year before, the steepest drop in the Buy Box. Fewer homes came to market, down 19.8%. The homes that did sell, sold well. There just were not many of them.

What this means if you are selling

Supply is low across all five ZIPs. That gives sellers an edge. But Realtor.com reported that 20.8% of listings nationally took price cuts in September. That tells you the edge is not automatic. Homes that are priced right and show well are the ones drawing offers. The Real Estate Data Aggregator shows sale to list prices above 104% in every ZIP here. That happens when the price is set correctly from the start, not too high.

What this means if you are buying

Freddie Mac's 7.28% rate as of October 1, 2026 is real money on a monthly payment. And inventory is still thin. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 1.9 months of supply in 06880, 06851 and 06903, and 1.7 months in 06850. Six months is considered a balanced market. You are working with less than a third of that in most of these ZIPs. When the right home comes up, it will not wait.

One more thing: these numbers cover whole ZIP codes. One street can read very differently from the ZIP average. A block with more inventory, or a pocket where every home has sold over asking, will not show up in these totals. If you want to know what is happening on your street specifically, reach out.