Published September 28, 2026 in Market Update

More Marion Homes Are Getting Full Price Now

By JJ Johannes

Real estate, Marion Last 09 22 26

Buyers in Marion have been saying the same thing: make an offer under asking and see what sticks. Last fall, that worked. I pulled every lived-in home that sold through September 22, 2026, and the numbers tell a different story now.

The market shifted, and most buyers have not caught up yet

Last October and November, 29.2% of lived-in Marion homes sold at or above their asking price. That is fewer than 3 in 10. A buyer making an offer under asking had a real chance of landing the home.

By June and July 2026, that number was 57.3%. More than half of homes sold at full price or above. The market did not drift up slowly. It crossed a line.

The full-year picture backs it up. From September 2025 through March 2026, the typical home sold for 97.9% of what it first asked. From March 2026 through September 2026, that number hit 100%. The typical home got every dollar it asked for in the second half of the file.

There were 117 sales in June and July 2026, against 89 in October and November 2025. More homes selling, and more of them at full price. Both things happened at once.

It helps to understand what was happening at the same time nationally. NAR reported that existing-home sales across the country fell 2.0% in August 2026, with only 1.62 million homes available for sale nationwide, a 4.9-month supply. Marion's 1.5-month supply is well below that. When there are fewer homes to choose from, buyers compete harder, and sellers hold their price.

The jobs picture matters too. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the U.S. economy added 162,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in August 2026, with unemployment holding at 4.1%. Buyers who feel steady in their jobs keep shopping, even when rates climb.

Does price range change how likely you are to get full price?

It does, and the gap is wide. Homes priced under $200,000 sold at or above asking price 60.9% of the time. That is the strongest rate of any price range in the market.

At $350,000 and up, that share drops to 37.1%. Still more than 1 in 3, but well below the lower ranges. The homes in the middle, $200,000 to $300,000, came in at 50.2%. Nearly half of those sold at full price or more.

The price-range story also shows up in the give-up numbers. Under $150,000, 239 homes gave up for every 33 that sold. That is a price point where sellers struggled badly. Move up to $300,000 to $450,000 and there were 197 sales against 221 that gave up. Still tough, but far more balanced. The homes that gave up typically first asked $225,173. The homes that sold first asked $278,000. That $52,828 gap tells you something: the homes that priced closer to where buyers were willing to go were the ones that closed.

Age of the home matters less than you might think. Homes built before 1970 hit 100% of their first asking price on the typical sale. Homes built in the 2020s came in at 98.2%. The spread across all decades is narrow. What the home first asked is a bigger factor than when it was built.

Here is what this means for you right now

If you are selling, the shift in Marion is real and the numbers show it. The typical home sold for 99.6% of its last asking price across the whole market. Both the under $150,000 range and the $150,000 to $250,000 range each hit 100% of their first asking price on the typical sale. Price it well from the start. A third of the 97 homes for sale right now already dropped their price, with a typical cut of $10,000. That tells you what happens when the first price misses.

If you are buying, the low-offer playbook is not working the way it did last fall. The 30-year fixed rate averaged 7.03% as of September 24, 2026, up from 6.30% a year earlier, both figures from Freddie Mac's weekly rate survey. That is real pressure on your budget. Going in under asking and losing the home costs you more time and more money in a market where the typical sale is closing at full price. Know your range, know what that range is doing in Marion, and come in ready.