Why Do Chevy Chase Pages Show a Listing Median Far Below the Sold Median? Reading Houses, Condominiums and the Census Building Types

Why do the Chevy Chase medians differ so much?

The first reason is kind. The $749,000 listing median and the $1,612,500 sold median in one table are not a contradiction. A listing median describes the homes offered at a moment, and a sold median describes the homes that closed over a stretch of months. If the homes on offer are weighted toward condominiums and the homes that closed are weighted toward houses, the two medians can sit far apart. The brokerage report's split points that way, with 121 condominium sales at a median of $395,000 and 248 detached sales at $1,602,500. That is an inference from the report's own figures, labeled as such here, and the Realtor.com page does not show its mix.

The second reason is the window. The brokerage report's 30-day median of $1,480,000 is 33.0% above the same dates a year earlier, which it reads as a composition signal and not proof of rising prices. Its 90-day median is $1,450,000 and its twelve-month median $1,280,000, so the shortest window is 15.6% above the longest, computed here. A month with 32 sales can move a median by hundreds of thousands of dollars on a few closings, and the report says so itself. The report's twelve-month figure is up only 0.6% from $1,272,500.

The third reason is the source. Redfin's page for the three months ending August (Redfin, Chevy Chase housing market) shows a median of $1.4 million and $1,359,101 for August, down 4.6%, 50 homes sold, up from 29, and 32 days on market against 21 a year earlier. The detached-home report puts August at $1,425,000, down 8.3% from August 2025, and the Realtor.com sold median is up 20.27% over a year. A 4.6% drop, an 8.3% drop and a 20.27% rise cannot all describe the same set of sales. A 20.27% rise to $1,612,500 implies about $1.34 million a year earlier, and an 8.3% drop to $1,425,000 implies about $1.55 million, both computed here, so the pages disagree about last year as much as about this year.

The fourth reason is the name. Chevy Chase is a postal city, a town, a village and, across the line, a neighborhood of Washington, and the pages use it in different ways. The brokerage report says it filters on the postal city and the postal area together, and warns that the result is not a municipal, neighborhood or school boundary. The Realtor.com page is titled for Chevy Chase Town but its figures are for the postal area, and Redfin's page is for the city. Zillow's city page shows $1,255,658, down 1.4%, and homes going pending in around 12 days, though it says it was updated on April 30, 2026 (Zillow, Chevy Chase home values), so it is months older than the other pages.

How fast do Chevy Chase homes sell?

The clocks run from 9 days to 57. The brokerage report gives a median of 12 days on market for the 30-day window, 15 for 90 days and 16 for twelve months, and 9 for detached homes, 21 for townhouses and 39 for condominiums. The detached-home report gives an average of 23 days, which it says is 19% faster than the five-year August average of 28, and its figures are for houses only. Redfin gives 32 days, up from 21. Realtor.com gives 57 days, down 6.56% over a year and up 62.86% over three years. Zillow's April page gives 12 days to pending, and a data-aggregator page built from Zillow figures gives 41 days to pending in July (Data aggregator, Chevy Chase July figures).

Within the brokerage report, the pattern is consistent: houses sell in about 9 days at the median, townhouses in about 21 and condominiums in about 39. The ratio of the condominium clock to the house clock is 4.3, computed here. The 57-day figure on Realtor.com is a median over listings, which can include homes that sat for months, and is much slower than any closed-sale clock above. This brief does not know which of the four clocks describes a particular home, and the answer depends on its type.

The supply side is thin in the detached-home report. It counts 29 active listings, up 3.6%, and 16 pending contracts, down 15.8%, with 15 new pendings in the month. It calculates a contract ratio of 0.55 pending sales per active listing, down from 0.68 in July but above 0.34 in August 2025, and above the five-year August average of 0.52. The report concludes that the market still slightly favors sellers. Realtor.com counts 146 homes for sale for the postal area, 5.0 times the 29, computed here, and the likely reason is that it includes condominiums and townhouses. The brokerage report says it could not capture an inventory count at all and left supply out.

A seller reading these clocks should keep one point in view: a clock is measured from a listing date, and a home that never lists has no clock at all. The figures above describe only homes that went to market and closed. The sale-to-list ratios are tight across the pages. The brokerage report shows an average of 97.81% over 30 days, 99.01% over 90 days and 99.10% over twelve months, with the data aggregator at 99.6%. At 99.1%, the gap between list and sale prices on a $1,280,000 sale is about $11,520, an illustration computed here from an average ratio and not the experience of any one sale. Seller concessions tell the other story: the report's average rose to $65,253 over twelve months from $21,450, and for detached homes to $100,191 from $32,442. That is 6.3% of the $1,602,500 detached median, computed here, and it is a figure most price medians leave out.

Sources as cited. The windows, areas and measures differ and the figures are not directly comparable. Commercial content; not independently verified.

Are there details the pages do not agree on?

Several. The price per square foot is $595 over twelve months in the brokerage report, $606 over 90 days, $642 over 30 days, $653 for detached homes, $461 on Realtor.com and $402 on Redfin. The highest is 1.6 times the lowest, computed here. Redfin's figure is down 11.5% and Realtor.com's down 2.62%, while the brokerage report's twelve-month figure is down 1.7%. A figure that varies by a factor of 1.6 across pages for one place probably counts different home types, since condominiums run lower per foot than houses in the brokerage report, at $366 against $653.

The brokerage report is dated July 28, 2026 on its page, yet its data run through August 16 and it says it was modified August 17. The page does not explain this. The date is probably a posting date that was left in place when the data were refreshed, and this brief reports it as an inconsistency and does not rely on the posting date. The report also says its three home-type segments are separate views that should not be added, and they sum to 398 against the 404 sales in total, 98.5%, which means the segments cover nearly everything, a sum this brief computed and the report did not make.

The Zillow figures are not the same series either. The Zillow city page says $1,255,658, down 1.4%, as of April. The data aggregator says its July figure is $1.28 million, up 6.2% over a year, and describes it as a median sale price from Zillow, which is a different measure from a home value index. The aggregator also shows 144 homes for sale, down 7.1%, and 41 new listings, down 14.6%. The home value of $1,255,658 and the sale price of $1.28 million are 2.0% apart, computed here, and the Census owner value of $1,294,200 is 3.1% above the Zillow value.

Rents are the one figure that fits across sources. Realtor.com shows a median rent of $4,375 a month, up 21.53% over a year, and the Census median rent is $2,488 a month. The first is 1.8 times the second, computed here. The difference is plausible, since asking rents on new listings run above the rents paid by long-term tenants, and the Census figure is a five-year average. Neither is a rent for a particular home.

What does the Census say about Chevy Chase homes, owners and vacancies?

The Census postal area that includes Chevy Chase has 14,039 housing units and 30,505 residents. Detached houses number 6,842, 48.7%, and attached houses 605, 4.3%. Buildings of 50 or more units hold 5,500 homes, 39.2%. Buildings of five or more units hold 6,413, 45.7%, so buildings of 50 or more are 85.8% of that group, computed here. Two- to four-unit buildings hold only 170, 1.2%. The stock is houses and large buildings with almost nothing between them, which fits the brokerage report's split, and is why a median is a poor guide: 121 condominium sales and 248 detached sales are different goods.

Age is a second divide. The median year built is 1963 and 9,869 homes, 70.3%, were built before 1980. Homes built before 1940 number 2,677, 19.1%, the largest decade group, and homes built since 2010 number 1,364, 9.7%. Tenure leans to owners. Of 12,937 occupied homes, 8,583 are owned, 66.3%, and 4,354 are rented, 33.7%. Among owners, 4,256 moved in since 2010, 49.6%, 1,660 moved in during the 2000s, 19.3%, and 2,667 moved in before 2000, 31.1%, and 1,498 owners, 17.5%, have been in the same home since 1989 or earlier. Among renters, 2,275 moved in since 2020, 52.3%, and 3,902 since 2010, 89.6%.

Vacancy is 7.8%. The Census counts 1,102 vacant homes: for rent, 427, 38.7%, rented but not yet occupied, 32, for sale, 104, 9.4%, sold but not yet occupied, 26, seasonal or occasional use, 121, 11.0%, and other vacant, 392, 35.6%. The 104 homes vacant and for sale are 0.7% of the postal area's homes, computed here, and the 392 in the other category are 2.8%. The figures are five-year averages and do not measure how many homes sit empty at any moment.

The Census median owner value is $1,294,200, with a margin of error of $65,200, 5.0% of the value. It is owners' own estimate over five years, not a sale price, and it is close to the brokerage report's twelve-month median of $1,280,000, 1.1% above it, and 80.3% of the Realtor.com sold median. The median household income is $194,971, so the twelve-month median is 6.6 times the median income, and the median rent of $2,488 a month is $29,856 a year, 15.3% of that income, a rough ratio of two medians. Readers comparing markets can also read the Bethesda brief and the Mooresville brief.

Source: Census Reporter, American Community Survey 2020-2024 five-year estimates, tables B25024, B25003, B25038, B25004, B25034, B25077, B25064 and B19013. Percentages and ratios are this brief's arithmetic.

What should an owner ask, and what does a private sale change?

The first question is which Chevy Chase the home is in, and what kind of home it is. A detached house, a townhouse and a condominium do not share a median, a buyer or a clock, according to the brokerage report. A seller should ask for closed sales of the same type, from the last six months, with the days to contract, the gap between the first ask and the final price, and the concessions paid, since the report says average concessions on detached sales rose to $100,191.

The second question is what a number measures. Ask whether a figure is for the postal area, the town, the village or the District side, a median or an average, a listing price or a sold price, and what window it covers. The pages above differ on every one of those, and a seller who reads the $749,000 listing median as a price for a house will undervalue the home by more than half.

The third question is the commission, and the arithmetic is simple. Each 1% of $1,280,000 is $12,800. At 3% the figure is $38,400 and at 5% it is $64,000. At $1,359,101, each 1% is $13,591, 3% is $40,773 and 5% is $67,955. At $1,612,500, each 1% is $16,125, 3% is $48,375 and 5% is $80,625. These illustrate the size of each percentage point and are not quotes of any rate a seller would be charged. No page in this brief names a Chevy Chase commission rate, and the medians are not the price of any one home.

The fourth question is exposure and concessions together. In a market where the report says concessions rose by more than 200%, a public listing means showings, a price history and a negotiation over credits with every buyer. A private sale has no showings and no neighbors talking about a sale.

The benefits are plain. Maison Off-Market buys luxury homes and estates directly from their owners and speaks only to sellers. A private sale has no showings. It allows closing dates that give a seller time to find a new home. It has no commission costs and no closing costs, and it avoids inspection repairs, which matters for a postal area where 70.3% of homes predate 1980, though the Census says nothing about the condition of any one house. The company does not say that a private sale always beats a public listing, and in a place where one page shows $749,000 and another $1,612,500, an owner is right to ask what each route yields. If you would like a private, no-obligation offer for a Chevy Chase home, call 401-219-4207 or use the contact form on this site.

Methodology and limitations

The brokerage report on closed sales is a commercial page whose posting date precedes its data window, and its home-type figures are separate views. The Realtor.com page shows a listing median and a sold median for the postal area without a mix and carries a title for the town. The Redfin page is for the city. The Zillow city page says it was updated on April 30, 2026, and the data aggregator's figure is a different Zillow series. The detached-home report covers houses only. Counts of listings and clocks differ widely across pages. The Census figures are five-year estimates for a postal area, which is larger than any one municipality. Percent changes were taken as printed, and implied prior-year values are this brief's arithmetic.

Conclusion

The Chevy Chase record shows a $749,000 listing median beside a $1.6 million sold median, house medians near $1.6 million and condominium medians near $395,000, a clock from 9 to 57 days and a postal area where 39.2% of homes are in buildings of 50 or more units. The pages differ because they count different kinds of homes, and the useful figure for an owner is the one for the same type of home.