The Housing Market Split in 2. Which Side Is Your House On?

Ask a few people how the housing market is doing and you will probably get a few different answers. That is because right now the market runs on two very different tracks, split by price point. Knowing which track your home is on changes everything about your sale, from your asking price to how long you can expect to wait for an offer. And the metro-wide numbers you see in the news hide that split almost completely.

Sales Are Climbing at the Top and Slipping at the Bottom

Rates and buyer competition are hitting different price points in opposite directions. Look at recent sales data from the National Association of Realtors and the pattern jumps out. Homes priced under $250,000 saw sales fall 2% to 3% compared with last year, while homes priced above $750,000 saw sales climb by double digits (see graph below):

The reason is affordability. After higher rates and several years of price appreciation, fewer buyers can comfortably manage an entry-level purchase right now, first-time buyers most of all. Buyers shopping at the upper end tend to be far less rate-sensitive, so demand there has held up and even grown.

The Speed Gap Is Closing Too

How fast a home sells is splitting by price point as well, and the shift is just as sharp. For years, higher-end homes sat on the market much longer than starter homes. That gap has nearly closed, according to Redfin (see chart below):

Well-funded buyers are moving quickly when a well-priced home in their range appears. As Zillow puts it, "The U.S. housing market is splitting in two. Luxury homes are selling at a faster pace than a year ago, with shrinking supply." The old assumption that pricier homes always move slowly no longer holds.

Why the Metro Average Hides This in Kansas City

Here is the local catch. Kansas City's headline numbers, an average sale price around $403,000, roughly 2.6 months of supply, and homes selling near 98% of asking as of August 2026, describe the metro as a whole. They do not tell you what is happening in your specific price band, and that is exactly where the real story lives. A metro average can look perfectly steady while the entry-level tier grinds and the upper tier races, or the other way around, and no single citywide figure will reveal which. The national split is really a reminder that the number that should drive your decision is not the metro average or the national headline, but what homes like yours, in your price range and your part of the metro, are actually doing right now.

What This Means for Your Sale

If you are selling an entry-level home, do not panic. Homes at your price point are still selling, just at a slower pace than last year, which means pricing right from day one and presenting well carry more weight than they used to. Testing a high number and hoping is the fastest way to sit. If you are selling a move-up or higher-end home, you are in a stronger position, because buyers in that range are less affected by today's rates and genuinely good listings are drawing real competition. Either way, your price point is the single biggest factor in how fast your home sells and what it sells for, and it is the first thing worth pinning down before you ever set a price.

What It Means If You Are Buying

The split cuts the other way for buyers, and it helps to know which side you are shopping on. If your budget lands in the entry-level range, the softer sales pace there is quietly in your favor, because fewer competing buyers can mean a little more room to negotiate and less pressure to waive protections just to win. Shop higher up and you are stepping into the faster, more competitive tier, where being fully prepared and decisive matters more, since well-priced homes are moving quickly and drawing multiple offers. In both cases, the mistake is treating the market as one thing. A buyer who understands the tier they are actually in can lean into its advantages, whether that means negotiating harder at the entry level or moving faster at the top, instead of being caught off guard by them.

The Bottom Line

Your home's price point is the real story right now, more than anything in the national headlines and more than the metro average suggests. The market is not simply hot or cold; it is both at once, depending on where your home falls. At Munkel Real Estate Solutions, the work is figuring out exactly where your Kansas City home sits in that split, then building a pricing and presentation strategy around what your specific tier and neighborhood are doing, rather than a citywide number that may be telling a very different story than your street.

Sources: National Association of Realtors, Redfin, Zillow, and Heartland MLS/KCRAR.