Dwell On It

Q1 2026 Snapshot  ·  $800K–$1.4M listed homes

Based on 18 closed MLS transactions in Montclair, Jan–Mar 2026, with list prices between $800,000 and $1,400,000.

This Week's Insight

The over-asking reality: what buyers in your price range actually paid in Q1 2026

If you are searching for homes in Montclair in the $800,000 to $1.4 million range, there is a number you need to know before you fall in love with anything. The list price is not the price. In the first three months of 2026, homes in that bracket sold for an average of 30% above their asking price.

These are not outliers or anomalies. This is what the market did, consistently, across 18 transactions in January, February, and March. A home listed at $999,000 closed at $1.61 million. A home listed at $899,000 sold for $1.45 million. A home on Inwood Avenue listed at $1.15 million went for $2 million.

What this table tells you: in your price range, a home listed at $1 million is more likely to close at $1.3 to $1.6 million than at $1 million. Only 4 of the 18 homes in this segment sold at or below asking. The homes that did not get bid up had something in common: they tended to sit longer or had condition issues that buyers priced in.

I share this because I think buyers deserve to understand the market they are actually entering before they start building their search around list prices. Knowing the real picture changes how you set your pre-approval, how you size your down payment, and which homes are genuinely in your range before you walk through the door.

Next week, we go deeper on what it actually takes to win one of these offers; because in Montclair right now, price is rarely the only thing that separates the winning bid from the losing ones.