By Stephanie Johnson
Published September 2026
August in San Francisco is usually quiet with fewer listings and more potential buyers on vacation ahead of Labor Day. This year was mixed. While single-family home prices, in line with prior year trends, cooled off after July's peak, condo supply continued to tighten, a trend we’ve been watching all summer.
The Big Picture: Houses Cool From July, Condos Hold Steady
The median single-family home sold for $1,860,000 in August, down 9.3% from July's $2,050,000. That's a real pullback month over month, but keep it in perspective: a year ago, August's median was $1,500,000, so this month's price is still 24% higher than last summer. July was an outlier, and August looks like prices settling back toward a still-elevated trend rather than any kind of reversal.
Condos moved differently. The median condo price edged up slightly to $1,257,500 from $1,250,000 in July, essentially flat, and it's now 23.3% above last August's $1,020,000. While single-family prices cooled, condo pricing held steady.
Inventory: Two Different Speeds
Single-family supply stayed exactly where it was in July: 0.8 months. That's about as tight as this market gets, and a drop from the 1.3 months of supply a year ago. There isn't much to choose from if you're shopping for a house right now.
Condos kept tightening too. Supply fell to 1.6 months from 1.8 in July, less than half of last August's 3.1 months. Condo demand is still cooler than for single-family homes, but the gap is closing fast. Buyers who've counted on condo inventory as a fallback have noticeably fewer options than they did even a month ago.
Days on Market: Houses Ease Slightly, Condos Barely Move
Single-family homes averaged 25 days on market in August, up from July's 22. Three extra days isn't much, but it's still 26% faster than last August's 34-day average. Homes are still moving quickly by any normal standard.
Condos barely changed: 43 days on market in August versus 44 in July. That's a big improvement from last August's 74 days, a 42% drop, and it means condos sold nearly as fast as houses all summer, which wasn't true a year ago.
Price Per Square Foot: Both Segments Pull Back From Summer Highs
Single-family price per square foot was $1,154, down $67 (5.5%) from July's peak of $1,221. It's still up 17.4% from last August's $983, so this reads as a step down from an unusually strong month, not a loss of momentum.
Condo price per square foot dipped to $1,129 from $1,149 in July, a 1.7% decline, while staying 13.5% above last August's $995. The small move in price per foot is in line with how steady condos have been all month.
How August Compares to a Typical Year
What matches the usual pattern:
Single-family prices and price per square foot both eased from July's peak, the kind of late-summer softening San Francisco typically sees as buyer urgency fades before the fall push.
Average days on market for houses ticked up slightly, another normal August pattern as showings slow down around vacation season.
What's different this year:
Condos didn't follow the usual pattern at all. Instead of loosening up like they typically do in late summer, inventory kept shrinking and days on market held flat.
Even with the single-family cool-down, 0.8 months of supply is nowhere near a typical August level. This market is running hotter than a normal late summer by a wide margin. The seasonal dip is happening on top of already historically tight inventory.
Seller Takeaways
Single-family inventory at 0.8 months of supply is still near record-tight. Well-priced homes are moving quickly even with July's frenzy having eased.
Condo sellers are in a stronger position than they've been in years. Supply is shrinking and days on market have held near July's pace, a real change from the long waits common a year ago.
Sellers should price to August's numbers, not July's. Both segments pulled back from last month's highs, and anchoring to the peak risks overpricing and sitting on the market longer than necessary.
Multiple-offer situations remain common for well-presented single-family listings given how little competing inventory exists.
Buyer Takeaways
Competition for single-family homes is still intense. Be ready to move within days and expect to compete against other offers on anything priced and presented well.
Condos offer a bit more room to negotiate than a year ago, but that window may be narrowing given how quickly inventory has been shrinking.
The dip in price per square foot from July's high is a modest opening, not a trend reversal. Prices remain sharply above last August in both segments.
Looking Ahead
Fall is typically San Francisco's second selling season, and listing volume usually picks up after Labor Day. With inventory already this tight heading into that window, especially for single-family homes, competition could intensify once the usual autumn wave of buyers returns. Watch the condo market closely: it spent the summer closing the gap with single-family homes on speed and scarcity, and if that continues into fall, condo buyers may see their advantage shrink faster than expected.
San Francisco's late-summer market isn't cooling, it's just slowing down a notch. Supply remains scarce across the board, well-prepared buyers and realistically priced sellers are still connecting quickly, and the fundamentals behind this year's run haven't changed.
For more on the San Francisco market, or specifics on your neighborhood or property type, feel free to reach out. I'm here to help you navigate it.