The Upstate Market Brief · August 2026
The market just paid $633,500. The algorithm said $449,990.
One monthly page on what actually sold in Columbia County and the Hudson Valley: at what share of asking, how fast, and where the automated estimate missed. Built from the MLS, Realtors Property Resource, Zillow’s research index, Google Trends and Houlihan Lawrence’s quarterly county report. Aggregate data only, never a client’s house.
Matthew Nolan · New York Real Estate Salesperson · Houlihan Lawrence
What August said
Two medians, one county, a $183,510 gap.
The automated estimate is a median across every house in the county, including the ones nobody is selling. The sold price is a median across the houses that changed hands that month, and those skew larger, better presented and on more land. Both numbers are honest. Neither is a price for your house.
The number sellers should hold onto sits between them. Over twelve months Columbia County sold at 93.2 percent of original asking on 563 sales, while RPR shows 96 percent of final asking. The three-point gap is price cuts: houses that came on high, sat, and were reduced before they sold. In Copake, on 45 sales, the twelve-month figure was 93.7 percent and the average time on market 108 days.
Houlihan Lawrence’s second-quarter Columbia County report reads the same way from the brokerage side: steady buyer demand and continued price appreciation despite fewer closed sales, limited inventory keeping conditions competitive, and well-positioned homes selling quickly. Its closing note to sellers is the one this brief exists to repeat. Price and present strategically, and the outcomes are still strong.
| Market | Posture | Sold at | Median days | Median sold |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia County | Balanced to buyer's | 96.0% of list | 49 days | $633,500 |
| Copake 12516 | Buyer's market | 97.1% of list | 81 days | $460,000 |
| Dutchess County | Seller's market | 101.9% of list | 37 days | $540,000 |
| Greene County | Buyer's market | 96.8% of list | 45 days | $354,950 |
| Ulster County | Seller's market | 100% of list | 44 days | $507,500 |
| Saugerties 12477 | Seller's market | 99.8% of list | 65 days | $424,000 |
| Windham 12496 | Buyer's market | 95.5% of list | 41 days | $899,000 |
Source: Realtors Property Resource, Residential Market Trends, August 2026. Sold-at figures are sale price against final list price. Windham’s median rests on a handful of ski-house sales and swings month to month.
| Town | Typical value | vs. last year | Search interest, Hudson = 100 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copake | $487k | +10.0% | 3 |
| Rhinebeck | $696k | +8.3% | 15 |
| Hillsdale | $588k | +7.9% | 3 |
| Craryville | $508k | +7.7% | <1 |
| Hudson | $450k | +5.6% | 100 |
| Windham | $520k | +4.6% | 6 |
| Saugerties | $415k | +1.2% | 14 |
| Woodstock | $655k | +0.3% | 19 |
| Hunter | $389k | -0.1% | 13 |
Sources: Zillow Home Value Index by ZIP, smoothed and seasonally adjusted, through 2026-07; Google Trends, United States, 13 weeks to 2026-08-30. The full monthly tables are in the PDF.
Inside the PDF
Twelve months, month by month.
- Columbia County and Copake, every month from September 2025: sales, median sold price, share of original asking, days on market, active listings and absorption.
- The whole Hudson Valley Catskill Region MLS on the same twelve-month basis, for scale.
- RPR’s August read on Columbia, Copake, Dutchess and Greene, and what each posture means for a listing decision.
- Typical value and search interest for nine towns from Copake to Windham.
- A one-page seller playbook for pricing into a 93-percent market.
This is the public, monthly version. Signed clients receive research built for their own decision: see five specimens.