Prices Pulled Back in Three ZIPs. Sellers Still Got Full Asking Price.

Over the twelve weeks ending August 23, 2026, median sale prices eased year over year in San Ramon, Fremont and Livermore, while sellers in each of those places held on to essentially full asking price.

Something counterintuitive happened across three of this territory's ZIPs over the source period. Home prices came down. Sellers did not give ground.

Normally, when a median price drops, it means buyers found room to push back at the table. That is not what the MLS sold data shows here.

Start with San Ramon. A year ago, the median sale price there stood at $1,900,000. Over the twelve weeks ending August 23, 2026, it was $1,705,000, a decline of about 10%. Meanwhile, the average sale-to-list ratio in San Ramon rose from 98.2% to 100%. Buyers there are paying less for the median home, and sellers are still walking away with essentially every dollar they asked for.

Fremont told the same story at a different price point. A year ago, the median sale price there was $1,333,500. This period it eased to $1,215,000, off about 9%. The average sale-to-list ratio there ticked up too, landing at 100%.

Livermore matched the pattern again. The median sale price fell from $1,010,000 a year earlier to $945,000 this period, down about 6%. There, too, sellers closed at an average of 100% of what they asked.

Three ZIPs, three different price bands, the same shape. Homes changed hands for measurably less than they did a year ago. The people selling them gave up nothing extra to make that happen.

That is the part worth sitting with. A falling median usually reads as a signal that buyers gained leverage: more room to offer under list, more sellers willing to come down further to close. Here, the opposite shows up in the data. Sellers who priced to where the market actually is were not punished for it. They landed at their number, not below it, in San Ramon, in Fremont, and in Livermore alike.

What that means depends on which side of the table you are sitting on.

If you are thinking about listing in any of these three ZIPs, the lesson is not that prices are soft, so brace for a discount. It is that the median has already moved, and pricing to today's number, not last year's, is what is producing full-ask outcomes. Sellers who anchor to an old comp and list above where the market actually is are the ones creating negotiating room for a buyer. Sellers who price correctly are not seeing any.

If you are buying in San Ramon, Fremont or Livermore, do not assume a lower median means an easier negotiation. The sale-to-list data says sellers who are priced right are getting their number. The opening to watch for is a home still priced off last year's comps, not a general discount across the board.

What happens next is worth watching closely. A sale-to-list ratio sitting at 100% across three separate ZIPs, after each was below that mark a year ago, is a narrow gap to hold. Whether that ratio stays at full price as more of this year's lower comps work their way into next season's listings, or whether it slips back toward last year's level, will say more about where this market is headed than the median price alone ever could.

This reading comes from MLS sold data covering the twelve weeks ending August 23, 2026, compared against the same window a year earlier. If you want to know what either of these numbers looks like for a specific address, that is a conversation worth having before you set a list price or write an offer.

Kim Deol The Deol Team