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San Luis Obispo County Home Prices, August 2026: Fewer Sales, Firmer Prices
MARKET REPORT · AUGUST 2026
The San Luis Obispo County median sale price was $922,500 in August 2026, up 2.4 percent from August 2025 and up 2.6 percent from July. Fewer homes changed hands: 214 closed, 13 percent below last August and the lightest month since winter. But the homes that did sell went fast and close to asking. The median listing went pending in 44 days, the average sale came in at 99.0 percent of list price, and nearly one in three sold above it.
The takeaway: August was thinner and firmer. Fewer sellers, fewer closings, and the buyers who stayed in the market paid full price for the homes worth having. If July was the busy month, August was the choosy one.
The county in August
Start with price. The $922,500 median is the third-highest monthly reading of the past year, behind June's $930,000 and February's $972,500, which came on a small winter sample. It is 2.4 percent above the $900,500 of August 2025 and recovers all of July's dip. Over the summer as a whole, June through August, the county median averaged about $917,000, roughly 4 percent above the same three months of 2025.
Volume tells a different story. 214 closings is down from 276 in July and from 246 a year ago. Part of that is calendar: July's surge pulled forward the spring contracts, and August closings reflect homes that went under contract in a quieter late June and July. Part of it is supply. Zillow counted 949 active listings at the end of August, essentially unchanged from July's 944, with 287 new listings coming on versus 293 the month before. Sellers are not flooding in, so buyers are working from a fixed shelf.
The third number is competitiveness, and here August surprised. 31.8 percent of sales closed above the asking price, up from 26.1 percent in July and from 22.8 percent in August 2025. The average sale-to-list ratio rose to 99.0 percent from 98.2 percent. With fewer homes to choose from, well-priced listings drew multiple offers again. The flip side: 22.5 percent of active listings took a price cut during the month, so the homes that were not well priced sat and then reduced.
A note on reading the chart. The winter spike in February and the trough in December are real medians, but those months close 160 to 230 homes versus 250 to 280 in summer, so a few large or small sales move the line. We read the April through August stretch, five months between $899,000 and $930,000, as the honest trend: flat to slightly up.
Supply, demand and days on market
Homes sold: 214 in August, down 13 percent from 246 a year earlier and down 22 percent from July's 276.
Homes for sale: 949 active listings at month end (Zillow), flat against July and against last August. At August's sales pace that is about four and a half months of supply, up from three in July, which is still balanced territory for this county.
Days on market: 44 days median, six days faster than August 2025 and three days faster than July. The well-priced half of the market is moving inside three weeks.
Sale-to-list ratio: 99.0 percent, the strongest month since May. Buyers paid within one percent of asking on average.
Sold above list: 31.8 percent of closings, up nine points from last August. Roughly one in three sellers got more than they asked.
Price reductions: 22.5 percent of listings cut their price during August, about the same share as July.
Home prices by town, August 2026
The county median blends Avila Beach with Oceano, so the town numbers are where the real information is. Here is the median sale price and the number of homes sold in each town in August, from the most expensive to the least.
Town | Median | Sold |
Avila Beach | $2.35M | 8 |
Cayucos | $1.50M | 19 |
Pismo Beach | $1.38M | 39 |
Cambria | $1.10M | 39 |
Arroyo Grande | $1.01M | 40 |
San Luis Obispo | $985K | 133 |
Morro Bay | $943K | 30 |
Los Osos | $929K | 34 |
Templeton | $860K | 24 |
Atascadero | $845K | 72 |
Paso Robles | $809K | 96 |
Grover Beach | $766K | 40 |
Nipomo | $749K | 25 |
Oceano | $588K | 8 |
Source: Redfin, all residential sales closed in August 2026. Towns with fewer than 15 sales are shown for completeness; read their medians as a rough guide, not a trend.
The coast. Pismo Beach had the strongest August on the coast: a $1.38 million median, up 12 percent on the year, on 39 sales, 22 percent more than last August, with 31 percent of them closing above asking. Cambria was the surprise. 39 homes sold there, 39 percent more than a year ago, at a $1.10 million median, and 36 percent went over list, the highest share of any beach town. Cayucos posted a $1.50 million median on 19 sales, but its 86-day median time on market and 95.4 percent sale-to-list ratio say the high end there is being negotiated, not bid up. Morro Bay held at $943,000, down 1.2 percent, with 30 sales and a longer 63 days on market. Avila Beach's $2.35 million median came on eight sales and should be read as a snapshot of what happened to close, not a valuation.
The city and the Five Cities. San Luis Obispo remains the most liquid market in the county: 133 sales in August, up 4.7 percent, at a $985,000 median that is essentially flat on the year, down 1.3 percent. Homes there went pending in 39 days and sold at 99.4 percent of asking. Arroyo Grande rose 7.8 percent to a $1.01 million median on 40 sales, with the fastest clock in the Five Cities at 36 days. Grover Beach jumped 13.5 percent to $766,000 on 40 sales, continuing its run as the beach-adjacent town with the most room to grow. Oceano's eight sales landed at a $587,500 median, still the least expensive address within a few minutes of the sand.
North County and the Mesa. Paso Robles is the volume story of the summer. 96 homes closed in August, 25 percent more than a year ago, at an $808,750 median, up 3.7 percent, and the average sale came in at 99.4 percent of list. Atascadero sold fewer homes, 72 against 97 last August, but prices rose 5.8 percent to $845,000 and 36 percent of sales went above asking, the highest share among the county's larger towns. Templeton's $860,000 median on 24 sales is down 6.3 percent on the year, a mix-of-sales effect in a small market where a few acreage properties swing the number. Los Osos was one of the fastest-moving towns in the county: 34 sales, a median 25 days on market and a 99.6 percent sale-to-list ratio, at a $928,750 median up 6.1 percent. Nipomo eased 4 percent to $749,000 on 25 sales.
What it means if you are buying
August is a reminder that a slower market is not a softer one. Volume fell, but the good houses still drew competition, and a third of them sold over asking. The opportunity is in the other two-thirds: homes that have been listed 45 days or more, and especially the 22 percent that have already taken a price cut. Those sellers have signaled they will deal. If you are shopping under $900,000, Paso Robles, Atascadero, Grover Beach, Nipomo and Oceano all posted August medians below the county number. Our guide to how much house your budget buys in each SLO County town shows what that money gets you street by street.
What it means if you are selling
Two markets ran side by side in August. Homes priced on the comps went pending in two to three weeks, often with more than one offer. Homes priced on hope sat, and about one in five took a reduction before finding a buyer. With fewer new listings coming on, a correctly priced home in September and October will have less competition than it would have had in spring. Start with how we price a Central Coast home from the comps, then what to fix before listing and what to leave alone.
Where to go deeper
Every town in this report has its own guide. San Luis Obispo · Pismo Beach · Arroyo Grande · Paso Robles · Atascadero · Templeton · Morro Bay · Los Osos · Cambria · Cayucos · Avila Beach · Grover Beach · Nipomo · Oceano
Earlier in this series: San Luis Obispo County home prices, July 2026. For the longer view, read why SLO County home prices hold up in downturns, price per square foot across SLO County, town by town and is it a buyer's or seller's market in SLO County.
About the numbers
County and town figures are from Redfin's monthly housing market data for San Luis Obispo County and its cities: median sale price, homes sold, median days on market, average sale-to-list ratio, share of sales above list and share of listings with a price drop, all residential property types, not seasonally adjusted. Active inventory and new listings are from Zillow's metro-level housing data, which covers the same county boundary. Year-over-year comparisons are against August 2025 from the same source. These figures differ slightly from MLS-reported medians because they include off-market and new-construction sales and are revised as late closings are recorded. Our July report used Zillow's county series; we moved to Redfin from August on because it reports town-level sales each month. We update each report if the source data is revised.
Talk With Kim & Kristen
We are Kim San Jule and Kristen Gentry, Broker Associates with Real Broker, serving San Luis Obispo County and the Central Coast. If you want to know what these numbers mean for your street, your house or your budget, we are glad to walk through it with you.
Kim San Jule · Broker Associate, DRE 01948144 · 805-345-8303 · kimsanjule@gmail.com
Kristen Gentry · Broker Associate, DRE 01968754 · 805-441-4618 · kristengentryslo@gmail.com
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