Published October 3, 2026 in Market Update

Mortgage rates are high. West SGV buyers are still active, but more selective.

By Jonathan Chi

Real estate, San Gabriel Valley - West

CNBC reported the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate climbed to 7.30%. That is a real cost. But MLS sales data counted 1,077 pending sales across West SGV in the three months ending July 31, 2026, up 5.1% from the same period a year before. Demand did not disappear. It got more selective.

More sales and more pending contracts, even at 7.30%, tells you something useful. Serious buyers are still active, but they're becoming more selective about where they buy and what they're willing to pay. The market isn't behaving the same way from one community to the next.

Where buyer competition remains strongest

Some parts of West SGV are still seeing strong buyer competition. MLS sales data recorded these results for the three months ending July 31, 2026.

In South Pasadena, MLS sales data found that 76.6% of homes sold above list price. The sale-to-list ratio hit 109%. That means buyers, on average, paid 9% over asking. In San Marino, the ratio was 109.8% and 75% of homes sold above list. These are not soft markets.

La Cañada Flintridge had just 1.4 months of supply, the tightest in this group. MLS sales data found that 56.1% of homes went under contract within two weeks of listing, up 15.1 points from a year before. Homes there are moving quickly.

Where buyers have more room to negotiate

Other parts of the market tell a very different story. More supply, longer days on market, and sale-to-list ratios near or below 100% give buyers more leverage.

Pasadena (91106) tells a different story. MLS sales data recorded a median of 67 days on market, 27 days longer than a year before. Homes sold for an average of 99.3% of list price, meaning sellers gave a little ground. Months of supply climbed to 5.9. That shift gives buyers real negotiating power and time to find the right home.

Monterey Park (91754) saw inventory nearly double, up 97.4% from a year before, according to the Real Estate Data Aggregator. Months of supply rose to 5.8. More choices for buyers, more competition among sellers.

Prices: a mixed picture

Price changes across the area were uneven in the three months ending July 31, 2026. Some ZIP codes held firm or gained. Others dipped a little. A dip in median price can reflect the mix of homes that sold, not just what the market will bear.

Altadena (91001) recorded a 48.6% jump in median price, to $1,560,000. That is a large number. It also sold 28.1% more homes than a year before, with inventory down 32.5%. When fewer homes sell in a smaller pool and the mix shifts toward larger properties, the median can move sharply. Pasadena NW (91103) shows the other side: median price fell 20.6%, to $1,280,000, while volume also dropped 19.4%.

How fast are homes selling?

MLS sales data counted a median of 26 days on market in San Marino and 27 days in La Cañada Flintridge for the three months ending July 31, 2026. Pasadena (91106) took 67 days at the median, more than twice as long. Rates may be the same across all these ZIP codes, but local supply and demand create very different timelines.

What the national picture adds

The Federal Housing Finance Agency reported U.S. house prices rose 2.6% year over year through July 2026. Realtor.com reported national active listings topped 1.16 million, up 5.5% year over year. Nationally, 20.8% of listings saw price cuts in September, the highest September share since 2018, according to Realtor.com. West SGV is not immune to those pressures, but local supply constraints in several ZIP codes are keeping competition firm where inventory is thin.

One more thing worth noting: a single street can read differently from the ZIP code around it. Lot size, condition, price point and the specific homes that happened to sell in a three-month window all shape the numbers. These figures are a starting point, not a final answer for any one property.