PITTSFIELD — Berkshire County's housing market remains tilted toward sellers, but increasing inventory and longer selling times are giving buyers more choices and negotiating power than they have had in several years.
During the first half of 2026, 510 homes sold across the county, an 8.3 percent increase from the same period last year, according to the Berkshire County Board of Realtors. The median sale price rose 4.3 percent, from $345,000 to $360,000.
The median is the midpoint of all sale prices: Half the homes sold for more and half sold for less. Unlike an average, it is less likely to be distorted by a few unusually expensive or inexpensive sales.
The combined value of the county's home sales reached $257 million, a 15 percent increase from the first half of 2025.
Those figures show that prices and sales increased countywide. But other measurements suggest the intense seller's market that followed the COVID-19 pandemic is gradually becoming more balanced.
"It is evening out," said Jason Nocher, owner of Nocher Realty. "Not quite a fair line — it leans toward sellers for sure."
Although sellers continue to hold an advantage, Nocher said homes are taking longer to attract offers and buyers have more negotiating power than they have had in several years.
During the first half of 2026, homes spent an average of 117 days on the market, up 10 percent from 106 days during the same period last year.
That gives prospective buyers more time to evaluate a property before deciding whether to make an offer, Nocher said.
"Previous to this year, they had to react quickly to secure a home," he said. "Now they have time to absorb details, look in more detail and potentially even get a second showing before making an offer."
Final sale prices averaged 96 percent of the homes' original listing prices. During the frenzied market that followed the pandemic, sellers could often command more than their asking prices.
Still, Berkshire County remains a long way from what real estate professionals consider a balanced market because the supply of available homes remains historically low.
During the first half of the year, an average of 561 homes were on the market at any given time, said Sandra Carroll, executive director of the Berkshire County Board of Realtors. By comparison, the county averaged at least 1,000 homes on the market each year from 2005 through 2020.
The county had 3.55 months of available housing inventory during the first half of 2026. That means it would take about three and a half months to sell all the homes currently listed if no additional properties entered the market and sales continued at the present pace.
Carroll said about seven months of inventory would represent a balanced market, in which neither buyers nor sellers hold a pronounced advantage.
Inventory is nevertheless beginning to increase, giving buyers more properties from which to choose, Nocher said. His agency had more than 60 active listings and more than 40 pending sales.
Higher mortgage rates could slow that progress by discouraging some homeowners from selling, particularly those who would have to give up the lower rates on their existing mortgages.
The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage was 6.67 percent as of Aug. 13, according to Freddie Mac. That compares with roughly 5.98 percent before the war with Iran intensified in February, according to the Financial Times.
The war has contributed to higher borrowing costs by driving up oil prices and adding to inflation concerns. Those pressures can raise yields on 10-year Treasury notes, which mortgage rates tend to follow. The war is not the only factor affecting mortgage rates, however; inflation reports, employment data, federal policy and expectations about the Federal Reserve also influence them.
Anthony Lamacchia, founder and owner of Lamacchia Companies, said the increase has pushed some would-be sellers back to the sidelines.
When mortgage rates were below 6 percent, Lamacchia said, some homeowners were considering selling. Now, he said, "there's a lot more people that are on the sidelines again because of rates."
That reluctance can further constrain the supply of homes for sale, preserving sellers' advantage even as other measurements show the market moving incrementally in buyers' favor.
Nocher expects inventory to remain steady into the fall and winter as buyers and sellers adjust to borrowing costs that remain well above the unusually low rates available during the pandemic.
"Both sellers and buyers are settling into this reality," he said, "and allowing themselves to come back into the market regardless of what the current rates are."
Nate Harrington can be reached at nharrington@berkshireeagle.com or 413-496-6126.
