Jeptha Sheene - Compass

📊 The Weekly Altos Market Report: September 14, 2026

Mortgage rates jump back above 7% this week after months below that line, and that immediately tilts the market toward softer demand.

Mortgage rates above 7% are taking the edge off demand, cooling the national market.
Median List Price: The median list price is $439,000, down $900 week-over-week
New-Listing Median Price: New listings came on at a $399,999 median, down from $410,000.

Inventory: Active inventory fell from 883,673 to 873,978, a modest tightening that can still support well-priced homes.

Days on Market: Median DOM held at 70.

Median list prices declined across three of the US's four regions, falling 3.6% in the Northeast, 2.6% in the South and 2.1% in the West. Prices were unchanged in the Midwest. Providence, Rhode Island, posted the largest increase at 9.3%, followed by Indianapolis at 4.4% and Chicago at 3.6%. (USA TODAY)

37% of AI jobs in the U.S. are in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, Seattle and Washington. While New York leads in overall tech talent, San Francisco still leads in AI, specifically. In Canada, there is greater concentration of AI employment, with 60% of those jobs based in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. (CNBC)

Tokyo, Copenhagen, Lisbon, Vienna and Sydney are the TOP 5 most liveable cities according to MONOCLE. #1 was Tokyo noted for its remarkable calm, safety, and security. All five have the following in common: urban ambition and lifestyle appeal, excellent public transport and green spaces, strong safety, culture, and community infrastructure, affordable housing options, and essential medical care. All are located within free-market, democratic nations that rely on private property, wage labor, and corporate enterprise. Real estate taxes range from as low as $500 per year to $17,000 per year for a $1 million home.

About 7% of buyers ages 61-70 said the main reason they chose their new home was because they wanted more space, up from 4% for that age group in 2016. Think visiting family, accumulated savings, compounding on investments, selling businesses, "rewarding yourself" for decades of hard work, etc.... Empty-nest baby boomers owned 28% of U.S. homes with 3 bedrooms or more in 2024, compared with 16% for millennials with children. Baby boomers (42% of buyers!)and older generations own $110 trillion in assets....and they are living longer, but not forever. YOLO applies to all! (WSJ)

According to The Economist, these are the 10 most livable cities in the world:
Copenhagen, Denmark, Vienna, Austria, Melbourne, Australia, Sydney, Australia, Zurich, Switzerland, Geneva, Switzerland, Osaka, Japan, Adelaide, Australia, Vancouver, Canada (The only North American city in the top 10), Tokyo, Japan (The only megacity to make the top 10). (The Economist)

California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Oregon, Connecticut and Washington are the 8 most expensive states in the US according to CNBC....who rate the states based on an index of prices for a broad range of goods and services calculated by the Council for Community and Economic Research. Housing affordability for both homeowners and renters is considered too as well as the cost to insure a median-priced home based on the most recent available data. Cost of Living is worth 2% of each state’s total score for doing business. (CNBC)

Experience the lifestyle... near Sloan's Lake, Light Rail,dining, and entertainment. Style, comfort, and locationwrapped into one exceptional home that checks all the boxes!

Call your representative today to back these initiatives if you think they will be helpful in fueling more housing inventory: Both H.R. 1340 and H.R. 9064 are proposed congressional bills designed to lower capital gains taxes on home sales, thereby encouraging longtime homeowners to sell and increasing housing inventory.
1. H.R. 1340, the More Homes on the Market Act: This bipartisan bill would permanently double the existing federal capital gains tax exclusion on primary residence sales and index it to future inflation. It increases the tax-free exclusion to $500,000 for single filers and $1 million for married couples filing jointly ....that has not been revised since 1997.
2. H.R. 9064, the Nest Egg Protection Act: This bill targets senior homeowners to help them keep more equity when rightsizing, which also frees up larger, longtime family homes for younger buyers. It temporarily raises the capital gains tax exclusion to $1 million for qualifying seniors. Sellers must be 65 or older and have owned their primary residence for at least 25 years. This exclusion limit applies to both single and joint filers for qualifying sales taking place between 2027 and 2030.

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