Sellers Still Think They're Winning on Price. The Sale-to-List Numbers Say Something Else.

If you've talked to anyone selling a house around here lately, you've probably heard some version of the same thing: sellers are still in the driver's seat. Prices are up, buyers are competing, nobody has to budge on terms.

Here's what the data actually says.

Across our territory, over the twelve weeks ending August 30, 2026, the median sale price came in at $360,001, based on 547 closed sales in MLS sold data. That part of the story checks out. But look at the other number tracked over that same window: sellers accepted a median of about 106% of list price, down from about 109% a year earlier. That's a real move, and it points the opposite direction from the price story. Homes are still selling for more, but sellers are giving up a little more ground to get there.

That tension shows up clearly at the ZIP level, too, and it isn't uniform.

In North Chili, the median sale price rose about 10% year over year. In that same market, the average sale-to-list ratio fell by roughly 22 percentage points compared with a year earlier. That's a big shift in negotiating room for a market where prices are still climbing.

Livonia tells a similar version of the same story. The median sale price there jumped about 27% year over year. Livonia's average sale-to-list ratio dropped by roughly 8 percentage points over that same comparison.

Spencerport followed the same pattern. Median sale price rose about 22% year over year there. Separately, Spencerport's average sale-to-list ratio slipped by about 7 percentage points.

Fairport rounds out the group. Its median sale price ticked up about 5% year over year. Its average sale-to-list ratio fell by roughly 7 percentage points over that same period. Fairport's own sale-to-list ratio sits at about 109% this period, up from about 117% a year earlier in that same market. That's actually the sharpest individual level in the whole dataset, and it undercuts the idea that a rising ratio always means sellers gaining ground; a still-strong number can be falling hard from where it started.

Not every market moved the same direction, and that matters. In Avon, the median sale price actually fell about 13% year over year. Avon's average sale-to-list ratio rose by about 4 percentage points over that same window. Le Roy saw something similar: median sale price down about 6% year over year there, while Le Roy's average sale-to-list ratio rose by about 6 percentage points. In those two markets, sellers are holding firmer ground even as prices soften, which is close to the opposite of what's happening in North Chili, Livonia, Spencerport and Fairport.

So what does this actually mean if you're thinking about listing or buying?

If you're selling in one of the markets where prices are climbing and sale-to-list ratios are falling, don't assume last year's negotiating leverage is still there. You may get a strong number on paper, but you may also be asked to come down more than you'd expect, or cover more in the negotiation, to close the deal.

If you're buying in those same markets, this is worth knowing. There may be more room to ask for concessions than the headline prices suggest.

Timing on the market itself still varies a lot house to house. Median days to pending runs about 32 days in Palmyra. In North Chili, that same measure runs about 11 days. Those numbers describe two very different paces sitting inside the same general area, which is a good reminder that "the market" here isn't one thing.

What I'll be watching next: whether that sale-to-list slide in North Chili, Livonia, Spencerport and Fairport keeps going, or whether it settles back out. If it keeps sliding while prices keep rising, that's a real shift in how negotiations are playing out around here, not just a one-period blip. If you're weighing a move in any of these neighborhoods and want to talk through what your specific situation looks like, I'm always happy to help.