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San Luis Obispo County Home Prices, July 2026: What Sold, Where, and for How Much
MARKET REPORT · JULY 2026
The San Luis Obispo County median sale price was $893,750 in July 2026, up 2.8 percent from July 2025. It was the busiest month for closings in more than a year: 305 homes changed hands, 13 percent more than a year earlier. Homes went pending in a median of 42 days. Inventory sat at 944 listings, almost exactly where it was last July.
The takeaway: prices are holding, not running. The county is up a few percent on the year, which after the last five years counts as calm. What changed in July is volume. More homes sold than in any month since spring 2025, and they sold without the bidding wars we saw two summers ago.
The county in July
Three numbers tell the month. The median sale price of $893,750 is up 2.8 percent from $869,000 in July 2025 and down 1.2 percent from June's $905,000. That dip is seasonal and small; the three-month trend is flat at just over $900,000.
The second number is closings. 305 homes closed in July, the most in any month of the past year, up from 269 last July. Spring buyers who went under contract in May and June closed in July, and there were more of them than in 2025.
The third is how the deals got done. 28 percent of July sales closed above the asking price, down from 32 percent a year ago, and the average home sold at 98.6 percent of its final list price. That is a balanced market: sellers are getting close to their number, buyers are not paying over it as a matter of course.
One note on the chart. February's $950,000 and March's $852,500 are real medians, but winter months have fewer sales, so a handful of high-end or entry-level closings can swing the number. We read the spring and summer months as the signal.
Supply, demand and days on market
Homes for sale: 944 at the end of July, against 940 a year ago. At July's sales pace that is about three months of supply, the low end of balanced.
New listings: 293 came on in July, down 6 percent from 313 last July. Fewer sellers are listing, which is keeping inventory from building even as sales rise.
Days to pending: 42, two days faster than July 2025 and the fastest month since last summer. Well-priced homes are moving in the first two to three weeks.
Sale-to-list ratio: 98.6 percent on average. Most homes are selling within a few percent of asking, with roughly one in four going above it.
Home values by town, July 2026
The county median blends a $1.5 million beach town with a $675,000 one, so the town-level numbers matter more than the headline. Here is where values stood in July, using Zillow's typical home value for a mid-tier home in each town, with the change from July 2025.
Town | July 2026 | vs. 2025 |
Avila Beach | $1.56M | +0.5% |
Cayucos | $1.32M | +0.4% |
Pismo Beach | $1.09M | +2.4% |
San Luis Obispo | $1.08M | +1.6% |
Arroyo Grande | $1.03M | +0.2% |
Cambria | $999K | +2.1% |
Nipomo | $937K | +3.2% |
Templeton | $932K | +1.6% |
Morro Bay | $931K | +0.4% |
Los Osos | $866K | +2.2% |
Atascadero | $779K | +2.3% |
Grover Beach | $769K | +1.3% |
Paso Robles | $767K | +1.5% |
Oceano | $675K | +3.1% |
Typical value of a mid-tier home (Zillow Home Value Index), July 31, 2026, and the change from July 2025.
The coast. Avila Beach ($1.56 million) and Cayucos ($1.32 million) remain the two most expensive addresses in the county, and both were close to flat on the year, up 0.5 and 0.4 percent. Pismo Beach ($1.09 million, up 2.4 percent) had the strongest year on the coast. Morro Bay ($931,000) and Cambria ($999,000) rounded out the beach towns, with Cambria up 2.1 percent and Morro Bay essentially unchanged.
The city and the Five Cities. San Luis Obispo's typical home reached $1.08 million, up 1.6 percent. Arroyo Grande ($1.03 million) was flat at 0.2 percent. Grover Beach ($769,000, up 1.3 percent) and Oceano ($675,000, up 3.1 percent) are still the two least expensive ways to live within ten minutes of the beach, and Oceano posted the second-fastest growth in the county.
North County and the Mesa. Paso Robles ($767,000, up 1.5 percent) and Atascadero ($779,000, up 2.3 percent) stayed within a few thousand dollars of each other. Templeton ($932,000, up 1.6 percent) carries its usual premium for the school district and lot sizes. Nipomo ($937,000) was the fastest-growing town in the county at 3.2 percent, continuing a five-year run in which values there rose 31 percent, the most of any town we track. Los Osos ($866,000) rose 2.2 percent.
What it means if you are buying
July was the kind of month buyers have been waiting for: more homes closing, fewer going over asking, and sellers who have adjusted to the idea that 2022 pricing is over. If you are shopping under $900,000, Paso Robles, Atascadero, Grover Beach, Oceano and Los Osos all have typical values below the county median, and all five have more inventory than they did two summers ago. Our guide to how much house your budget buys in each SLO County town walks through the trade-offs town by town.
What it means if you are selling
Pricing discipline is the whole game right now. The homes that sold above asking in July were priced at or slightly under the comps and drew competing offers in the first two weeks. The ones that sat were priced for a market that no longer exists and took a reduction to move. If you are planning a fall listing, start with how we price a Central Coast home from the comps and 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
Later in this series: August 2026 · September 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 figures are from Zillow's monthly housing data for the San Luis Obispo metro area, which is the same boundary as the county: median sale price, closed sales, new listings, active inventory, mean days to pending, sale-to-list ratio and share of sales above list, all homes including condos, not seasonally adjusted. Town values are the Zillow Home Value Index for mid-tier homes as of July 31, 2026. These will differ from MLS-reported medians because they include off-market and new-construction sales and are revised as late closings are recorded. 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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