The Housecats | Compass Real Estate
A $361,000 regional median. A 9.5-day median market time among completed luxury sales. And 41 of 49 recorded waterfront closings below $1 million. Greater Baltimore’s third quarter becomes more useful when you look inside the headline figures.
For this report, Greater Baltimore includes Baltimore City, Baltimore County, and Howard County. The reporting period is July 1 through September 30, 2026, and the figures describe residential sales retained from the reviewed Bright MLS exports.
Data note: This is a provisional snapshot of the retained sales. Two potentially duplicate source entries remain excluded while their identity is reviewed. Year-over-year changes are withheld, and complete market coverage has not been established.
The quarter at a glance
The reviewed records contain 4,877 completed sales with a $361,000 median closing price. The overall median reported time on market was 14.5 days among the 4,876 sales with usable marketing-time data.
Segment | Recorded closings | Median closing price | Median reported days on market |
|---|---|---|---|
Overall | 4,877 | $361,000 | 14.5 |
Luxury: strictly above $1 million | 258 | $1,297,712.50 | 9.5 |
Waterfront | 49 | $590,000 | 24 |
Luxury and waterfront are overlapping subsets of the overall group. Their counts should not be added to the overall total. Marketing-time figures describe homes that completed a sale during the quarter.
1. The regional median needs a local comparison
The $361,000 regional median combines three substantially different sets of completed sales.
Reporting area | Recorded closings | Median closing price |
|---|---|---|
Baltimore City | 1,727 | $230,000 |
Baltimore County | 2,177 | $380,000 |
Howard County | 973 | $650,000 |
That spread is the first useful takeaway. The same regional headline sits above a $230,000 city median, a $380,000 county median, and a $650,000 Howard County median. Each reflects the homes that actually sold in that jurisdiction.
The distribution also matters. 3,403 of the 4,877 retained closings were below $500,000. The quarter included substantial sales at the upper end, while most recorded transactions occurred below that threshold.
Our reading: use the regional figure for orientation, then narrow the comparison to the relevant location, property type, and price range. These medians summarize different groups of homes; they do not isolate the value of a location or establish what an individual property is worth.
2. Completed luxury sales had a shorter median market time
The reviewed quarter included 258 closings strictly above $1 million. Their median closing price was $1,297,712.50, and their median reported time on market was 9.5 days.
That compares with 14.5 days for the overall group of completed sales. Within this quarter’s reviewed records, the luxury subset had a shorter median marketing period.
The result is useful precisely because it focuses on a defined group. It describes the homes above $1 million that reached closing; it does not measure the time required to sell every luxury listing or explain the motives of buyers and sellers.
A short median also leaves room for very different individual experiences. The two $6 million closings highlighted below reported 692 and 68 days on market, respectively. Those sales can coexist with a 9.5-day segment median because the median describes the middle of the full group.
For a closer market read, the distribution and the individual comparable sales deserve attention alongside the headline number.
3. Most recorded waterfront closings were below $1 million
Waterfront activity covered a broad price range in the reviewed records. Of the 49 waterfront closings, 41 closed below $1 million.
The segment’s median closing price was $590,000, with a median reported marketing time of 24 days among the homes that closed.
The price bands add useful detail: 16 waterfront sales were below $500,000, and 25 were between $500,000 and under $1 million. The remaining eight closed at $1 million or more.
Our reading: waterfront should be examined by price range and the specific property. A single waterfront median combines different homes and settings, and this 49-sale group is much smaller than the overall regional sample.
For this report, waterfront requires an explicit waterfront designation in the source data. Water access alone does not qualify. The figures therefore describe that recorded classification; they do not establish that each property offers the same shoreline, boating access, or ownership rights.
At the top of the market
Two properties tied at $6 million for the highest recorded closing price in the reviewed Q3 sales. A $3.9 million Woodbine closing followed.
Price rank | Property | Recorded closing price | MLS close date |
|---|---|---|---|
Tied 1 | 1208 Scotts Knoll Court, Lutherville Timonium | $6,000,000 | August 17, 2026 |
Tied 1 | 2734 Caves Road, Owings Mills | $6,000,000 | July 31, 2026 |
3 | 16449 Ed Warfield Road, Woodbine | $3,900,000 | September 29, 2026 |
Public listing histories corroborate these property identities, prices, and MLS closing dates. O'Conor, Mooney & Fitzgerald Realtors
These are the three highest recorded closing prices within the reviewed quarter’s retained sales. Dates are the MLS close dates. The ranking does not imply that The Housecats represented these transactions.
Bring the report closer to your property
The quarter offers three useful starting points: meaningful differences between the county medians, a shorter median marketing period among completed luxury sales, and waterfront activity spread across several price bands.
The next step is a more specific comparison. A particular address, property type, or search area will benefit from a closer look at the relevant sales and their individual details.
If you would like help putting the quarter in context for your home or search, let’s start there.
Sources and methodology
Source: Bright MLS residential-sale exports dated October 19 and October 26, 2026, reviewed October 28, 2026. The quarter’s statistics use qualifying closed sales dated July 1–September 30 across Baltimore City, Baltimore County, and Howard County. Medians are calculated from individual retained sale records, not averaged from county or monthly medians.
One agreeing duplicate pair is counted once. Two other potentially duplicate entries remain excluded pending identity review, so this snapshot remains provisional and annual changes are withheld. One retained sale has conflicting reported days on market and is omitted from that metric, leaving 4,876 overall observations. Luxury means strictly above $1 million; waterfront follows the explicit source flag. Complete market coverage is not established. These are descriptive results for the reviewed records, not a forecast or a measure of appreciation for an individual home.