Homes in Davis are moving off the market noticeably faster than they did a year ago. Newly released Redfin data for the three months ending in May shows the typical Davis listing went under contract in just 11 days, down from 15 days during the same stretch in 2025 — a 26.7% drop that points to buyers competing harder for the homes that come up for sale. More than 40% of homes sold above their list price, up from roughly 30% a year earlier, and the typical sale closed at 100.4% of asking.

A faster, busier spring

The speed-up came alongside a clear pickup in activity. Sales rose 12.3% year-over-year, with 128 homes changing hands compared with 114 in the same window last year. New listings ticked up modestly to 182, and active inventory grew 6.3% to 252 homes. But because sales grew faster than supply, the market actually tightened: Davis now has about 2.0 months of supply, a level generally considered a sellers’ market.

Month-to-month momentum looks even stronger, though some of that is the usual spring rhythm. Sales jumped 43.8% from the three months ending in April, inventory expanded 15.6%, and the median sale price rose 7.9% to $829,504. Days on market edged up slightly from 10 to 11 — essentially flat — suggesting the spring surge in listings has been absorbed about as quickly as it arrived.

Prices flat on the headline, softer underneath

The median sale price of $829,504 is virtually unchanged from $829,500 a year ago — a rare case of a near-perfect year-over-year hold. But the price-per-square-foot tells a slightly different story, slipping 5.7% to $482 from $510. That divergence suggests buyers are getting somewhat more space for their money, with the mix of homes selling this spring skewing larger than last year’s.

Longer-term context puts the current level in perspective. Two years ago, in the three months ending May 2024, the median sale price was $875,000, meaning Davis prices remain about 5% below that mark. Stretching back five years, prices are up 7.9% from the three months ending May 2021 — a modest gain that has substantially trailed inflation over the same period.

Affordability and the rate backdrop

Affordability remains a strain in this college town of roughly 66,000 residents. At today’s median price, a Davis home costs about 9.2 times the local median household income of $90,045, according to U.S. Census Bureau data — well above the 5x threshold economists typically associate with affordability stress. A buyer putting 20% down on a median-priced home would face a monthly principal-and-interest payment of about $4,168, which works out to 55.5% of median monthly household income.

Mortgage rates have offered a small reprieve. The 30-year fixed rate averaged 6.44% in May, down from 6.82% a year earlier, according to Freddie Mac. Combined with flat prices, that translates to roughly $167 less per month in mortgage payments on a median-priced Davis home than a year ago. Nationally, the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index was down slightly from a year earlier, a softer backdrop than Davis’s flat reading.

What the numbers add up to

Taken together, the data describes a market that has rebalanced only slightly in buyers’ favor on price while tilting more firmly toward sellers on pace. Listings are clearing about four days faster than last spring, a larger share of sales are closing above asking, and supply sits at just two months. The 0% year-over-year change in median price masks a market where competition for available homes has, by several measures, intensified — even as the per-square-foot figure suggests buyers are stretching their dollars a bit further on size.

How Davis compares to its recent past

A few quick benchmarks for context:

  • Days on market: 11 days now, vs. 15 a year ago, 8 two years ago, and 9 five years ago — faster than last year but still slower than the 2021 and 2024 readings.
  • Active inventory: 252 homes now, vs. 237 a year ago, 174 two years ago, and 215 five years ago — the highest of the four periods.
  • Homes sold: 128 now, vs. 114 a year ago, 108 two years ago, and 139 five years ago — recovering from recent lows but still below the 2021 pace.