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San Luis Obispo County Home Prices, September 2026: The Market Cools Into Fall
MARKET REPORT · SEPTEMBER 2026
The San Luis Obispo County median sale price was $897,500 in September 2026, up 2.6 percent from September 2025 and down 2.7 percent from August. 239 homes closed, 4 percent fewer than a year ago but more than August's 214. The pace slowed: the median listing took 50 days to go pending, eight days longer than last September, and only 17 percent of sales closed above the asking price, the smallest share since January.
The takeaway: September is when the county's market exhaled. Prices held their year-over-year gain, but the bidding wars of August thinned out, homes took a week longer to sell, and buyers got more of what they asked for. It is the normal turn of the season, arriving on schedule.
The county in September
The headline number is steady. At $897,500, the September median is 2.6 percent above the $875,000 of a year earlier, and the third quarter as a whole, July through September, averaged about $906,000, roughly 1.7 percent above the same quarter of 2025. Month to month the median gave back August's bump, but August was a thin month and September's sample is larger, so we read the two together as a market sitting just under $900,000 and not moving much.
Volume recovered from August's lull. 239 closings is the second-busiest month since June, and it brings the third quarter to 729 sales, within 2 percent of the 742 closed in the third quarter of 2025. For all the talk of a slow year, the county is selling homes at almost exactly last year's pace.
What changed is the temperature. In August, 31.8 percent of sales closed above list and the average home sold at 99.0 percent of asking. In September those fell to 17.3 percent and 98.2 percent. The median days on market stretched from 44 to 50. That is a real shift, and it is seasonal: the buyers who had to be settled before school started are done, the ones still looking are patient, and the homes left on the market in September are, on average, the ones that did not sell in summer. About 22 percent of active listings took a price cut during the month, the same share as July and August.
A note on reading the chart. Redfin's September figures are preliminary. Late-recorded closings will nudge the month's numbers over the next several weeks, usually by a small amount; we will update this report once the month is final. The shape of the year does not change: a winter trough, a spike in February on a small sample, and a spring-summer plateau between $899,000 and $930,000 that September sits just below.
Supply, demand and days on market
Homes sold: 239 in September, down 4.2 percent from 249 a year earlier and up 12 percent from August's 214.
Days on market: 50 days median, eight days slower than September 2025 and six days slower than August. The slowest month since February.
Sale-to-list ratio: 98.2 percent, down from 99.0 percent in August. On a $900,000 home that is roughly $7,000 more room to negotiate than there was a month ago.
Sold above list: 17.3 percent of closings, down from 31.8 percent in August and 25.7 percent a year ago. Fewer than one in five sellers got more than they asked.
Price reductions: 22.0 percent of listings cut their price during September, unchanged from the summer months.
Home prices by town, September 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 September, from the most expensive to the least.
Town | Median | Sold |
Avila Beach | $2.17M | 11 |
Cayucos | $1.47M | 21 |
Pismo Beach | $1.33M | 43 |
San Luis Obispo | $1.02M | 115 |
Arroyo Grande | $966K | 30 |
Morro Bay | $950K | 37 |
Cambria | $925K | 34 |
Templeton | $865K | 26 |
Los Osos | $862K | 28 |
Atascadero | $855K | 60 |
Paso Robles | $810K | 105 |
Nipomo | $770K | 35 |
Grover Beach | $737K | 39 |
Oceano | $735K | 15 |
Source: Redfin, all residential sales closed in September 2026, preliminary. Towns with fewer than 15 sales are shown for completeness; read their medians as a rough guide, not a trend.
The coast. Pismo Beach was the coast's standout for a second month: a $1.33 million median, up 1.5 percent on the year, on 43 sales, 26 percent more than last September, with 31 percent of them closing above asking at a time when the county average was 17 percent. Morro Bay closed 37 homes, 46 percent more than a year ago, at a $950,000 median; its 9.9 percent year-over-year decline is against an unusually strong September 2025 and we would not read it as a trend. Cambria's median settled to $925,000, up 4.5 percent, on 34 sales after two months above $1.1 million. Cayucos held at $1.47 million on 21 sales, still the slowest beach town at 86 days on market and a 95.4 percent sale-to-list ratio. Avila Beach's $2.17 million median came on 11 sales.
The city and the Five Cities. San Luis Obispo crossed back over $1 million, with a $1.02 million median on 115 sales, essentially flat on the year at down 1 percent. Homes there still moved in 38 days and sold at 99.1 percent of asking, the firmest pricing of any large town in the county. Arroyo Grande posted a $966,000 median, up 3.9 percent, on 30 sales, down 31 percent from a busy September 2025. Grover Beach eased 1.1 percent to $737,000 on 39 sales, and its median time on market jumped to 65 days, the longest in the Five Cities. Oceano's 15 sales landed at $735,000, up sharply from August's $587,500 on a handful of larger closings; between the two months, figure the typical Oceano home in the mid $600,000s.
North County and the Mesa. Paso Robles sold more homes than any town in the county: 105 closings, 26 percent more than last September, at an $810,000 median that is up 3.1 percent on the year. The trade-off is time; the median Paso listing took 57 days to go pending, two weeks longer than in August. Atascadero rose 5.9 percent to $855,000 on 60 sales, the fourth straight month of year-over-year gains there, with 31 percent closing above list. Templeton's $865,000 median on 26 sales shows a 21 percent year-over-year decline that is a comparison problem, not a crash: September 2025 in Templeton was skewed by several large-acreage sales. Los Osos held at $862,000, up 0.7 percent, on 28 sales. Nipomo sold 35 homes, a third more than a year ago, at $770,000, down 3.5 percent.
What it means if you are buying
September gave buyers the first real leverage they have had since spring. Homes are taking longer, only one in six is going over asking, and the average sale is closing almost two percent under list. If you have been waiting for a quieter market, this is what one looks like here: not a price drop, but room to negotiate on terms, repairs and closing costs, and time to inspect without a competing offer behind you. Paso Robles, Atascadero, Nipomo, Grover Beach and Oceano all posted September medians under $860,000. Our guide to how much house your budget buys in each SLO County town shows what that money gets you.
What it means if you are selling
The fall market rewards sellers who price for it. The homes that sold above asking in September were priced at or just under the comps and showed well in the first week. The homes that did not were the ones carrying summer price tags into a market that had moved on, and about one in five of them took a reduction. Days on market are now the number to watch: a listing that passes 30 days without an offer in this market is sending a signal about its price. 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: August 2026 · 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. September 2026 figures were pulled in mid-October and are preliminary; Redfin revises recent months as late closings are recorded, and we will update this report when September is final. Year-over-year comparisons are against September 2025 from the same source. These figures differ slightly from MLS-reported medians because they include off-market and new-construction sales.
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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