Published October 18, 2026 in Market Update

More listings hit the Lake Region, but buyers are still keeping pace

By Wendy Schurgot

Real estate, Lake Wallenpaupack / Lake Region

Nationally, CNBC reported that pending home sales were down 8.5% year over year as of October 14, 2026. That is the number a lot of buyers and sellers are reading right now. But the Lake Region is telling a different story. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 324 pending sales across the region in the three months ending August 31, 2026. That is a market still moving.

More choices for buyers, but demand is holding up

The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 436 homes for sale across the Lake Region in the three months ending August 31, 2026. That is more inventory than a year ago. Buyers have more to look at. But sellers are not sitting idle either. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 391 new listings and 289 homes sold in that same period. Homes are still moving hands.

ZIP 18428: the biggest piece of the market

ZIP 18428, which covers a large part of the Lake Wallenpaupack area, is the busiest ZIP in the region. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 158 homes for sale there, up 24.4% from a year earlier. New listings rose 12.8% to 141. Yet pending sales reached 116, up 6.4% from the same period in 2025. Buyers are keeping pace with the added supply. The median sale price came in at $360,000, up 19% year over year. Homes sold in 33 days at the median, six days faster than the year before. Nearly 1 in 5 homes sold above list price.

ZIP 18426: fastest median sale time in the region

The Real Estate Data Aggregator put the median days on market in ZIP 18426 at 18 days for the three months ending August 31, 2026. That is 19 days shorter than the same period a year ago. Homes for sale rose 15.9% to 51. The median sale price dipped a little, down 1.2% to $327,450. That small price softening did not slow buyers down much. More than 1 in 5 homes sold above list price, up 4.7 points from a year earlier.

ZIP 18464: more inventory, but pricing needs attention

ZIP 18464 had 20 homes for sale, up 25% from a year ago, according to the Real Estate Data Aggregator. Pending sales jumped to 18, up 50% year over year. That is a real sign of buyer interest. But the median sale price slipped 7% to $415,000, and the average sale-to-list ratio dropped 11 points to 94%. That gap tells you pricing matters here more than in some other ZIPs. Homes that are priced well are selling. The median days on market was just 20 days, 26 days faster than a year ago.

ZIP 18436: the other large market, a little more patient

ZIP 18436 had 160 homes for sale, up 12.7%, and 98 homes sold in the three months ending August 31, 2026, per the Real Estate Data Aggregator. The median sale price rose 14.7% to $327,500. But pending sales were down 14.2% to 109, and the share of homes sold above list price fell 10.6 points to 8.2%. Median days on market was 40 days. This ZIP has more inventory relative to its pace, and buyers there are taking a little more time. Sellers who price carefully are still closing.

Smaller ZIPs: a look at the quieter corners

ZIP 18451 had only 6 homes sold and 8 for sale in the period, per the Real Estate Data Aggregator. The median sale price was $742,500. Homes went under contract in 18 days at the median, and a third of them were under contract within two weeks of listing. No homes sold above list price, and the sale-to-list ratio was 94.3%. At the high end, pricing precision matters most.

ZIP 18438 had 8 homes sold, a median sale price of $412,000, and a median of just 12 days on market, the fastest in the region. The sale-to-list ratio was 99.3%, the highest of any ZIP here. ZIP 18435 saw the biggest jump in homes sold, up 81.8% to 20. But the median price slipped 8.7% to $374,500, and days on market stretched to 48 days, 19 days longer than a year before. More homes sold, but at lower prices and after a longer wait. All figures from the Real Estate Data Aggregator.

How the ZIPs compare on speed and price

What the national picture adds

The broader context is worth knowing. Fannie Mae forecast the 30-year fixed mortgage rate at 7.4% for the fourth quarter of 2026 and 7.5% through 2027, according to CNBC on October 14, 2026. Rates above 7% are real, and they shape what buyers can afford. Realtor.com reported on September 30, 2026 that 20.8% of listings nationally had taken a price cut, the highest share since October 2022. That is a national signal. The Lake Region is not immune, but the local numbers show demand here is holding up better than many markets.

One more thing worth saying: the numbers above cover whole ZIP codes. One street, one lake community, or one price range can read very differently from the ZIP as a whole. If you want to know what is actually happening on your block or at your price point, send me a message. That is exactly the kind of question I can answer with a straight answer.