Published September 20, 2026 in Market Update

188 Brentwood Homes Never Sold. Most Asked Too Much.

By Listing Leads

Real estate, Brentwood

I pulled every lived-in home in Brentwood that came off the market without selling, then compared that count to every home that did sell. The numbers stop on September 16, 2026. The one thing that splits the groups is price range: where you start your asking price decides how likely you are to end up in the 188 that never sold.

The homes that gave up first asked $199,500 more than the ones that sold

The typical first asking price of homes that gave up was $1,449,500. The typical first asking price of homes that sold was $1,250,000. That $199,500 gap is the whole story.

Asking too much is not just a luxury-home problem. It shows up at every price range. Even under $750K, 20.5% of homes came off the market with no sale. That is one in five. Buyers at every level will walk past a home that is priced above what the market will pay.

The most common mistake I see: a seller picks a price based on what they need, not what buyers will pay. The number in the listing does not change what a buyer can borrow or what a neighbor's home appraised for. It only changes how long the home sits.

The $750K to $1.25M range wins on odds, but the $3M range is not hopeless

The $750K to $1.25M range had the lowest share of homes that gave up, at 12.6%. It also had the fastest sales, with a middle of 34 days to sell. Homes there got 98.9% of their last asking price. That is the strongest combination in the market.

The $1.25M to $2M range is close behind at 13.2% giving up. It had the most sales of any range, 270, so there is real demand there. The middle days to sell was 52, and sellers got 97% of their last asking price.

The $3M and up range is where the odds turn hard. Nearly 3 in 10 gave up. The middle days to sell was 104. Sellers got 95.8% of their last asking price, and that is off the last price, not what they first asked. Homes that took over 6 months to sell across the whole market got only 90.2% of what they first asked. Waiting costs more than a price cut taken early.

Right now, 60.7% of the 349 homes for sale have already dropped their price. The typical drop is $107,500. That is the market telling sellers the same thing the sold data tells them: the first price was too high.

What sellers and buyers should each take from this

If you are selling, the one thing to do differently is price to the range where buyers are active before you list, not after you sit. Homes sold in their first month got 100% of what they first asked. Homes that took five to six months got only 89.9%. The gap between a right price on day one and a wrong price corrected later is real money. With 60.7% of current listings already having dropped their price, the market is not rewarding optimism right now.

If you are buying, the data shows where sellers are under pressure. The $3M and up range has a 29.8% give-up rate and a middle of 104 days to sell. Sellers who have been on the market that long have already seen the market's answer. That is a different conversation than one with a seller in week two. One backdrop worth knowing: the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.95% as of September 17, 2026, up from 6.76% the prior week (Freddie Mac). Higher rates narrow what buyers can pay, which puts more pressure on sellers who priced for a lower-rate world.