Monthly Sales October 2026
October 2026 in HRM: Homes That Sold Fast Held Their Asking Price
In October 2026, 298 single-family homes went firm across HRM at a median selling price of $585,000, and the typical home sold for 96.6% of its original asking price. The more useful finding for a seller is the gap between fast and slow sales: the 96 homes that sold within a week sold at a median of 100.0% of original asking price, while the 85 that took 61 days or more sold at a median of 90.5%. That makes the opening price, and what happens in the first weeks of exposure, the decisions that deserve the most attention before you list.
Source: NSAR MLS exports, single-family, HRM districts (District 105, East Hants/Colchester West, excluded). Firm sales have a firm date of October 1 to 31, 2026; listing statuses are as of early November 2026. Showing data: ShowingTime, Halifax-Dartmouth MLS area, October 1 to 31, 2026. Medians lead throughout. Definitions and limitations are at the end of this report.
Median and average sold price and SP/OP use the 296 firm sales with a recorded selling price. Two firm sales had suppressed prices in the export and are counted in sales but not in price figures.
How sale prices compared with original asking prices
Of the 296 firm sales with a recorded price, 220 (74.3%) sold below original asking price, 31 (10.5%) sold at it, and 45 (15.2%) sold above it. Among homes that sold below, the median gap was $34,900, or 5.7% of the original ask. Among homes that sold above, the median premium was $10,100 (2.0%).
These shares describe homes that sold. They do not describe every home that was listed. SP/OP compares selling price with the original list price, so a home that was reduced and then sold at its reduced price still registers below original ask.
Speed and price: the first week stood apart
About one in three firm sales (96 of 296, or 32%) happened within seven days on market. Those homes sold at a median of 100.0% of original asking price, and 56 of them (58%) sold at or above it. As time on market lengthened, the median SP/OP stepped down in every bracket.
| Days on market | Firm sales | Median SP/OP | Sold at or above original ask |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 days or fewer | 96 | 100.0% | 56 (58%) |
| 8 to 14 days | 34 | 97.5% | 4 (12%) |
| 15 to 30 days | 38 | 95.6% | 3 (8%) |
| 31 to 60 days | 43 | 93.5% | 5 (12%) |
| 61 days or more | 85 | 90.5% | 8 (9%) |
This is a pattern, not proof of cause. Homes that take longer to sell are often the ones that needed a price adjustment, and an adjustment lowers SP/OP by definition. That is precisely why the original price matters: it sets the starting point for how buyers read the listing, and it is the one price decision a seller makes before the market has given any feedback.
Where the activity was concentrated by price
| Selling price band | Firm sales | Median SP/OP | At or above original ask | Median DOM (MLS field) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under $400,000 | 23 | 90.5% | 4 (17%) | 48 days |
| $400,000 to $599,999 | 136 | 96.9% | 30 (22%) | 14 days |
| $600,000 to $799,999 | 89 | 96.4% | 25 (28%) | 29 days |
| $800,000 to $999,999 | 23 | 98.8% | 10 (43%) | 38 days |
| $1,000,000 and over | 25 | 97.0% | 7 (28%) | 34 days |
Bands with fewer than 30 sales (under $400,000: 23; $800,000 to $999,999: 23; $1,000,000 and over: 25) are small samples. Read them as indications, not conclusions.
The $400,000 to $599,999 band accounted for 136 of the 296 priced firm sales (46%) and moved quickly, with a median of 14 days on market. A second view comes from the homes listed in October. Looking at their original asking price, the share that already has an accepted offer (firm or conditional) falls as price rises:
Accepted offers = status of firm or conditional sale as of early November 2026, for the 431 HRM single-family homes listed in October. Later-October listings have had less time on the market, and the cohort does not include homes listed before October.
Supply and outcomes for October listings
431 new single-family listings came to market in HRM in October, against 298 firm sales, or roughly 1.4 new listings for every firm sale. That compares two monthly flows. Many of the firm sales were homes listed in earlier months, and these exports do not include total active inventory, so it should not be read as a measure of months of supply or of any individual home’s chance of selling.
| Status | Listings | Share of October listings |
|---|---|---|
| Still active | 290 | 67.3% |
| Firm sale | 71 | 16.5% |
| Conditional sale | 60 | 13.9% |
| Cancelled | 9 | 2.1% |
| Withdrawn | 1 | 0.2% |
131 of the 431 October listings (30.4%) had an accepted offer by early November. 55 (12.8%) had already been reduced at least once, with a median reduction of $20,000 (3.6% of original ask). Nine listings were cancelled and one withdrawn; two of the cancelled homes were relisted before month-end at the same asking price. The data does not say why any listing was cancelled, so I will not guess at reasons.
District view: where new listings and firm sales lined up
| District | New listings | Firm sales | October listings now conditional | October listings still active | Median sold price | Median SP/OP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Timberlea, Prospect, St. Margaret's Bay | 55 | 38 | 9 | 37 | $603,500 | 97.7% |
| Bedford | 30 | 21 | 6 | 21 | $610,000 | 96.4% |
| Woodlawn, Portland Estates, Nantucket | 25 | 19 | 2 | 17 | $510,000 | 97.7% |
| Beaverbank, Upper Sackville | 18 | 19 | 2 | 13 | $660,000 | 99.1% |
| Lawrencetown, Lake Echo, Porters Lake | 16 | 19 | 5 | 10 | $615,000 | 95.2% |
| Halifax West | 14 | 18 | 2 | 6 | $641,127 | 96.0% |
| Spryfield | 28 | 17 | 3 | 16 | $569,900 | 100.0% |
| Sackville | 23 | 17 | 3 | 14 | $497,000 | 95.6% |
| Waverley, Fall River, Oakfield | 26 | 16 | 3 | 17 | $728,500 | 96.3% |
| Halifax County East | 16 | 16 | 1 | 14 | $385,000 | 91.7% |
| Fairmount, Clayton Park, Rockingham | 22 | 15 | 3 | 15 | $610,000 | 93.5% |
| Kingswood, Haliburton Hills, Hammonds Plains | 35 | 11 | 4 | 27 | $660,000 | 94.3% |
| Colby Area | 12 | 11 | 3 | 6 | $519,400 | 96.5% |
| Dartmouth Montebello, Port Wallace, Keystone | 12 | 10 | 1 | 10 | $637,400 | 97.4% |
| Forest Hills | 7 | 9 | 2 | 3 | $439,000 | 97.0% |
| Armdale/Purcell's Cove/Herring Cove | 10 | 8 | 0 | 4 | $744,900 | 98.8% |
| Harrietsfield, Sambro and Halibut Bay | 11 | 6 | 0 | 11 | $587,500 | 96.0% |
| Fairview | 5 | 6 | 0 | 3 | $565,000 | 94.1% |
| Dartmouth Woodside, Eastern Passage, Cow Bay | 22 | 4 | 2 | 16 | – | – |
| Southdale, Manor Park | 12 | 4 | 4 | 6 | – | – |
| Halifax South | 12 | 4 | 1 | 10 | – | – |
| Halifax North | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 | – | – |
| Halifax Central | 4 | 3 | 0 | 4 | – | – |
| Crichton Park, Albro Lake | 9 | 2 | 1 | 6 | – | – |
| Dartmouth Downtown to Burnside | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | – |
Medians are shown only where a district had five or more firm sales with a recorded price; a dash means the sample was too small. Firm sales include homes listed before October. Conditional and active counts refer to October listings only. District-level days on market is intentionally omitted to avoid conflicting with NSAR published board figures.
Halifax West, Forest Hills, Fairview, Beaverbank and Upper Sackville, and Lawrencetown, Lake Echo and Porters Lake each recorded at least as many firm sales as new listings in October, and Halifax County East matched them exactly. At the other end, Kingswood, Haliburton Hills and Hammonds Plains saw 35 new listings against 11 firm sales. Timberlea, Prospect and St. Margaret’s Bay was the largest district by a wide margin, with 55 new listings and 38 firm sales. Districts with fewer than five firm sales are shown for completeness but not interpreted.
Buyer activity: showings by price range
ShowingTime data for the Halifax-Dartmouth MLS area shows where buyers were actually touring homes. Showings per listing were highest between $300,000 and $700,000, at 4.5 to 5.5, and eased steadily above that: 3.9 in the $700,000 range, 3.4 in the $800,000 range and 2.9 from $900,000 to $999,999.
| Price range | Total showings | Showings per listing |
|---|---|---|
| $100,000 to $199,999 | 28 | 2.55 |
| $200,000 to $299,999 | 84 | 4.00 |
| $300,000 to $399,999 | 409 | 5.24 |
| $400,000 to $499,999 | 990 | 5.47 |
| $500,000 to $599,999 | 1,126 | 4.47 |
| $600,000 to $699,999 | 792 | 4.47 |
| $700,000 to $799,999 | 597 | 3.90 |
| $800,000 to $899,999 | 278 | 3.39 |
| $900,000 to $999,999 | 146 | 2.86 |
Showings at $1,000,000 and above
| Price range (as reported) | Total showings | Showings per listing |
|---|---|---|
| $900,000 to $1,199,999 | 131 | 2.67 |
| $1,200,000 to $1,499,999 | 95 | 2.71 |
| $1,500,000 to $1,799,999 | 46 | 2.42 |
| $1,800,000 to $2,099,999 | 18 | 2.57 |
| $2,100,000 to $2,399,999 | 17 | 1.70 |
| $2,400,000 to $2,699,999 | 6 | 3.00 |
| $2,700,000 to $2,999,999 | 4 | 1.33 |
The two ShowingTime reports use different price brackets and overlap between $900,000 and $999,999, so their totals are not added together. Above $3,000,000 there were two showings in total (one in the $4,800,000 to $5,099,999 bracket and one at $6,300,000 or more). Brackets above $2,100,000 have very few showings; treat their per-listing figures as unstable. ShowingTime counts only showings booked through its system.
The takeaway is not that higher-priced homes are harder to sell. It is that fewer buyers are touring each one, so each showing carries more weight, and presentation and pricing have less room for error.
What this means if you’re selling
- Treat the original asking price as your most important number. In October, the homes that sold in the first week did so at a median 100.0% of original ask. Build your price from the competing homes buyers can tour this week and from recent firm sales in your neighbourhood, not from the number you hope to reach later.
- Have everything ready before the first showing. With 32% of firm sales happening inside seven days, launch-week preparation such as presentation, photography and a clear read on pricing carries real weight. Pre-listing inspection and staging consultation, where they suit the property, can remove surprises before buyers see them.
- Above roughly $600,000, expect a more selective buyer pool. Showings per listing fell from 4.47 in the $500,000 range to 3.39 in the $800,000 range, and the share of October listings with an accepted offer was 44% for $400,000 to $599,999 versus 15% for $800,000 to $999,999. At those prices, condition and a precise list price matter more.
- Know your district’s supply picture. Where new listings outnumber firm sales, such as Kingswood, Haliburton Hills and Hammonds Plains in October, your home competes with more alternatives. Where firm sales kept pace with new listings, buyers had fewer choices.
- Decide your reduction trigger before you list. 13% of October listings were already reduced within weeks. A plan based on showing volume and buyer feedback is more useful than waiting to see what happens. If you want to compare approaches for your property, start with the seller services page.
Sandra’s perspective
What I would tell a seller is that October did not reward optimism. It rewarded accuracy. The homes that were priced where buyers were already looking sold quickly and held most or all of their asking price, and the homes that started high tended to arrive at the same market price later, after extra weeks of exposure and often a reduction. The data cannot tell us whether the price caused the delay or the delay was a symptom of other issues such as condition or location, which is why I look at each property’s own competition rather than a district average.
I would also caution against reading one month as a trend. This report covers October only, with no prior-period comparison supplied, and several districts had small samples. Use it to ask better questions about your own home, not to predict what your sale will look like. Real Data. Real Advice. Real Results.
Frequently asked questions from HRM sellers
How far below asking price are HRM homes selling for?
In October 2026, the median single-family home in HRM sold for 96.6% of its original asking price. Among homes that sold below original ask (74.3% of sales), the median difference was $34,900, or 5.7%. 15.2% sold above original ask. These figures describe homes that sold, not all homes listed.
Does it matter how quickly my home sells?
In this data, yes. Homes that sold within seven days had a median SP/OP of 100.0%; homes that took 61 days or longer had 90.5%. The pattern is partly because homes needing price reductions take longer and are measured against the original price, so it shows what happens rather than proving why.
How many showings should I expect?
ShowingTime data for the Halifax-Dartmouth MLS area shows about 4.5 to 5.5 showings per listing between $300,000 and $700,000 in October, 3.4 in the $800,000 range, and roughly 2.4 to 2.9 per listing between $900,000 and $2.1 million. These are monthly averages for showings booked through ShowingTime, not a forecast for a specific home.
Is it better to list high and reduce later?
October data does not test that strategy directly, but it points the other way: 13% of October listings were already reduced, and the slowest sales had the lowest SP/OP. A starting price grounded in current competition and recent sales gives you the cleanest read on buyer demand.
Which parts of HRM were busiest in October?
Timberlea, Prospect and St. Margaret’s Bay led with 38 firm sales, followed by Bedford with 21, and Woodlawn, Portland Estates and Nantucket, Beaverbank and Upper Sackville, and Lawrencetown, Lake Echo and Porters Lake with 19 each. Volume varies widely by district, so neighbourhood-level numbers for your street are worth checking before pricing.
Wondering how these numbers apply to your home?
Before you choose a list price, it helps to look at the homes buyers are actually choosing in your neighbourhood: your competition, recent comparable sales and the launch plan that fits your property. I am happy to walk through that with you, with no obligation.
Or reach Sandra directly at sandra@sandrapike.ca or 902-478-8711. Sandra leads The Pike Group at Royal LePage Atlantic and has been part of the Royal LePage National Chairman’s Club (top 1% nationally) since 2017.
Source, definitions and limitations
Source and period. NSAR MLS system exports for single-family homes. Firm sales: firm date October 1 to 31, 2026 (298 HRM sales). New listings: 431 HRM single-family listings entered in October 2026 (two entries carry late-September list dates and are retained), with statuses as of early November 2026. Showings: ShowingTime Target Market Analysis, Halifax-Dartmouth MLS area, October 1 to 31, 2026. Figures were derived from MLS exports and may differ from NSAR’s published monthly totals.
Geography. HRM districts 1 through 40. District 105 (East Hants/Colchester West) is excluded as it lies outside HRM. District names follow the MLS, with minor spelling expansions.
Definitions. Firm sale: all conditions removed. SP/OP: selling price divided by original list price. DOM: the MLS days-on-market field as exported; it may differ from NSAR board averages. Medians are used as the primary measure; averages are labelled. Share of sold homes below ask is not the share of all listings that sold.
Limitations. The listing data covers October listings only and is not total active inventory, so months of supply is not calculated. No expired-listing data was included, so expired listings are not analyzed. Reasons for cancellations are not in the data. No prior-period or year-over-year comparison was supplied. Two firm sales with suppressed selling prices are counted in sales but excluded from price figures. Street addresses are not shown.
Authored by Sandra Pike, REALTOR® | The Pike Group, Royal LePage Atlantic
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