The Sacramento region’s spring housing market broke into two camps over the three months ending May 2026, according to data released by Redfin. Mid-tier suburbs that anchor the area — Folsom, El Dorado Hills and Orangevale — all posted median sale prices at least 4.9% below where they stood a year earlier, even as buyer activity in those same markets jumped by double digits. At the other end of the spectrum, Granite Bay’s luxury median climbed 5.1% to roughly $1.42 million and Rocklin gained 4.1%, suggesting the price softness is concentrated in the move-up segments rather than spread evenly across the region.
The split is taking shape against a national backdrop of slightly higher borrowing costs. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 6.44% in May 2026, up from 6.33% in April but still below the 6.82% averaged in May 2025, according to Freddie Mac data published by the Federal Reserve. The S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index for March 2026 came in below its year-ago reading, indicating a modest national pullback in home prices that mirrors what most of the Sacramento submarkets are showing on the headline price line.
Prices: Granite Bay leads gains, El Dorado Hills leads declines
Granite Bay remained the region’s most expensive market by a wide margin, with a median sale price of $1,418,401 — more than $550,000 above the next-priciest city, El Dorado Hills at $866,232. Granite Bay’s median was up 5.1% from $1,350,000 a year earlier. Rocklin posted the second-largest year-over-year gain at 4.1%, rising to $702,580 from $675,000. Loomis, a small market where headline figures can swing on a handful of sales, recorded a 3.9% increase to $727,065 on just 27 closings.
On the other side of the ledger, El Dorado Hills saw the steepest year-over-year price decline, with its median falling 5.6% to $866,232 from $917,500. Orangevale’s median fell 5.9% to $549,671, the largest percentage drop in the group, though its smaller transaction count (95 sales) means a shift in mix can move the headline number more than in larger markets. Folsom’s median fell 4.9% to $742,556 from $780,500.
The two largest-volume markets sat closer to flat. Roseville’s median sale price slipped 0.8% to $634,620, and Lincoln’s slipped 0.8% to $619,909 — making Lincoln the most affordable city in the comparison on a median-sale-price basis.
Sales activity: Folsom and Orangevale lead the rebound
Closed sales rose year over year in seven of the eight cities tracked. The largest percentage gains came in Orangevale (+20.2%, to 95 sales from 79) and Folsom (+18.8%, to 246 from 207) — both markets where prices fell sharply. El Dorado Hills sales rose 11.5% to 223 closings from 200. Loomis closings rose 8.0% to 27 from 25, and Lincoln rose 5.1% to 287 from 273. Roseville, the region’s highest-volume market, recorded 526 sales, up 3.8% from 507 a year earlier.
Rocklin was the lone city to post a year-over-year sales decline, with 195 closings versus 198 a year earlier — a drop of 1.5%. Granite Bay was effectively flat at 76 sales, up from 75.
The pattern in the data shows the steepest price discounts coinciding with the strongest activity rebounds. Folsom, El Dorado Hills and Orangevale — the three cities with the largest year-over-year price declines — were also the three with the largest year-over-year sales gains. Rocklin and Granite Bay, the cities with the largest price gains, saw sales essentially unchanged.
Speed of sale: Loomis fastest, Granite Bay slowest
The pace at which homes sold varied widely across the region. Loomis recorded the shortest median days on market at 10 days, down from 15 a year earlier. Folsom and Orangevale tied at 13 days, with Folsom one day slower than the 12 days recorded a year ago and Orangevale two days slower than the 11 days a year ago. Rocklin homes took 17 days to sell, compared with 15 a year earlier.
Roseville (20 days), El Dorado Hills (19 days) and Lincoln (21 days) all matched or stayed within a day of their year-ago readings, suggesting stable conditions in the region’s larger mid-tier markets.
Granite Bay stood out as the slowest market, with a median 33 days on market — up sharply from 13 days a year earlier. With only 76 closings and a $1.4 million-plus median, Granite Bay’s small luxury market can be more sensitive to shifts in buyer pool size and individual listing characteristics; the longer marketing times suggest properties at the top of the price spectrum are taking measurably longer to find buyers than they did last spring, even as prices have moved higher.
Inventory and competition: tightest in Loomis and Orangevale
Active inventory across the region remained heaviest in Roseville (957 active listings) and Lincoln (600), consistent with their roles as the region’s largest-volume markets. El Dorado Hills carried 486 active listings, Folsom 444 and Rocklin 392. Granite Bay had 149 active listings, Orangevale 178 and Loomis just 45.
The share of homes that sold above their list price offers a cleaner read on competition than inventory counts alone. Loomis led at 42.4% of sales closing above asking, followed closely by Orangevale at 42.0%. Rocklin (38.5%) and Folsom (37.1%) also showed elevated competitive pressure. Roseville and Lincoln, the two largest markets, each saw roughly a third of homes sell above list (35.5% and 34.7%, respectively).
The two priciest markets had the lowest share of above-list sales: Granite Bay at 28.4% and El Dorado Hills at 29.9%. Sale-to-list ratios told a similar story. Loomis came in at 100.2%, with Roseville, Rocklin and Lincoln all at exactly 100.0%. Folsom (99.8%), Orangevale (99.3%), Granite Bay (99.2%) and El Dorado Hills (99.0%) all closed slightly below asking on a median basis.
Rents: Granite Bay tops the chart, Lincoln remains the cheapest
Rental data from Zillow, current as of May 31, 2026, shows wide variation in monthly asking rents across the region. Granite Bay had the highest median rent at $3,516 per month — more than $2,100 above the lowest, Lincoln at $1,348 per month. (Zillow does not publish a year-ago figure for Granite Bay in this dataset, so a year-over-year comparison is not available for that city.)
Between those extremes, El Dorado Hills posted a median rent of $2,920, Folsom $2,669, Roseville $2,605, Rocklin $2,453 and Orangevale $1,984.
Year-over-year rent changes were modest and positive across every city with a comparison figure. Orangevale recorded the largest increase at +3.7%, rising to $1,984 from $1,912. El Dorado Hills rose 3.6% to $2,920 from $2,818. Folsom rents rose 2.5% to $2,669, Roseville rose 2.2% to $2,605, Lincoln rose 2.1% to $1,348, and Rocklin posted the smallest gain at 1.2%, rising to $2,453 from $2,425.
The rent-to-price relationship varies considerably across the region. Lincoln, the cheapest city by median sale price ($619,909), is also the cheapest by median rent ($1,348) — but its rent is roughly half of what comparably priced Roseville commands ($2,605 on a $634,620 median sale price), reflecting Lincoln’s relative distance from the region’s employment centers and its higher share of newer suburban inventory. Orangevale’s rent of $1,984 against a median sale price of $549,671 places it among the more rent-friendly options for households not yet ready to buy. At the top, Granite Bay’s $3,516 rent paired with a $1.42 million median sale price points to a market dominated by ownership rather than rental supply.
Folsom and Rocklin show one of the closer rent-to-price profiles in the region. Folsom’s $2,669 rent against a $742,556 sale price and Rocklin’s $2,453 rent against a $702,580 sale price are within a few hundred dollars of each other on both metrics, even as their year-over-year price trajectories diverged sharply (Folsom down 4.9%, Rocklin up 4.1%).
Putting the region in context
Taken together, the data describes a region pulling in two directions. Sales volumes rose year over year in nearly every market, and homes are still selling quickly — under three weeks in six of the eight cities — with strong above-list shares in the more affordable markets. At the same time, headline prices fell in five of the eight cities, including all three of the highest-volume mid-tier markets (Folsom, El Dorado Hills and Roseville’s near-flat reading).
That pattern is broadly consistent with the national picture. The S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index for March 2026 was below its year-ago reading, and mortgage rates, while higher month-over-month at 6.44% in May 2026 versus 6.33% in April, were still lower than the 6.82% averaged in May 2025, per Freddie Mac.
For buyers comparing options, Lincoln remains the most affordable entry point on price, Orangevale on rent-to-price ratio. For sellers, Loomis, Rocklin and Folsom continue to see the highest competitive pressure as measured by above-list share. And the luxury end — represented by Granite Bay and El Dorado Hills — is showing the longest marketing times and the lowest share of above-list sales, even where median prices have moved higher.
Housing data in this report is from Redfin, rental data from Zillow, and mortgage rate and home price index data from Freddie Mac and the Federal Reserve.