In July, 14 detached homes priced above $1 million sold in Reston. At the end of the month, 14 detached homes priced above $1 million sat on the market. That is one month of supply in the most expensive corner of town.
Over the same 31 days, condos priced between $300,000 and $399,999 sold 15 units and left 52 sitting. That is three and a half months of supply in the least expensive corner of town.
Housing markets usually run the other direction. Starter homes move quickly because more people can afford them, and expensive homes sit because the buyer pool thins out at the top. Reston inverted that in July, and the inversion has been building all year.
Here is what the July data from Bright MLS shows, rung by rung, and what it means depending on which one you are standing on.
The Top Rung: Detached Homes
The median detached home in Reston sold for $1,106,625 in July, up 3.9% from last July. Homes went under contract in an average of 9 days, which runs 20% faster than the five-year July average of 11 days. Sellers collected 102.3% of their original asking price, meaning the typical detached seller in Reston got more than they asked for.
Year to date, 149 detached homes have sold in Reston against 111 through the same point last year. That is a 34.2% jump in closings, and the year-to-date detached median sits at $1,115,000, up 6.2%.
Reston homeowners listed 192 detached homes through July, up 35.2% from last year. More sellers came to market, and buyers absorbed every one of them without the market slowing down at all. Days on market fell. Sale-to-list ratios rose. A 35% increase in supply produced zero softening.
That combination tells you the demand for detached houses in Reston runs deeper than the supply by a wide margin. Robert Simon’s original plan leaned heavily on clustered townhouses, garden apartments, and shared open space, which is part of what makes Reston pleasant to live in and part of why detached houses are a comparatively small slice of the housing stock. When 22 of them sell in a month and 23 remain, the arithmetic gets tight quickly.
The Middle Rung: Townhouses
Townhouses changed more than any other segment this summer.
The median townhouse sold for $709,000 in July, a 9.1% jump from June. On its face that reads like strength. Look at what is underneath the closings and the picture reverses.
Reston had 56 active townhouse listings at the end of July, up 60% from the 35 available last July. New contracts fell to 26, down 35% from last July. Days on market ran 13, which is slightly above the five-year norm of 12.
The contract ratio divides pending contracts by active listings. Reston townhouses posted 0.36 pendings per active listing in July, down from 0.73 in June and 0.80 last July. The five-year July average is 1.01. Townhouse demand relative to supply is running 65% below its own normal.
Closings reflect what buyers agreed to weeks ago. Contract ratios reflect what buyers are doing now. When those two numbers point opposite directions, the contract ratio usually wins.
The Bottom Rung: Condos
The condo market has already made the turn that townhouses are starting.
The median condo sold for $391,000 in July, down 7.5% from last July and down 9.9% from June. Condos averaged 26 days on market, 29% slower than the five-year July norm of 20 days. Sellers collected 98.3% of their original asking price, below the five-year average of 99.1%. Price per square foot came in at $336, the lowest reading in the past twelve months and now below the detached figure of $373.
Reston finished July with 108 active condos, up from 71 last July and against a five-year July average of 59. Months of supply climbed to 3.09, more than double the 1.45 reading in August of last year. That number has risen every single month since December.
The softness has an address. Of the 108 active condos, 90 sit in the $200,000 to $499,999 range. Those same bands produced 26 of July’s 40 condo sales. Buyers shopping a two-bedroom condo in that range have real choice for the first time in several years.
Above that, the picture is different. Condos between $500,000 and $599,999 sold seven units in July against four actives at month end. The upper end of Reston’s condo market, much of it clustered near Reston Town Center and the Silver Line, is not carrying the same overhang.
The Ladder, in One Table
Months of supply by price band, using July closings against active listings at month end:
| Segment and price band | Active listings | July sales | Months of supply |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detached, $1M and above | 14 | 14 | 1.0 |
| Townhouse, $600,000 to $799,999 | 20 | 19 | 1.1 |
| Townhouse, $500,000 to $599,999 | 11 | 7 | 1.6 |
| Condo, $400,000 to $499,999 | 15 | 6 | 2.5 |
| Condo, $300,000 to $399,999 | 52 | 15 | 3.5 |
| Condo, $200,000 to $299,999 | 23 | 5 | 4.6 |
Read that column from top to bottom. Supply gets looser as prices get lower, reversing the usual relationship between price and absorption.
Townhouses between $600,000 and $799,999 still cleared 19 sales against 20 listings in July, so the segment is absorbing what comes to market. That measures contracts written in June and early July. The contract ratio measures what buyers are doing right now, and it is the number pointing down.
Inventory Hit a Five-Year High, and It Did Not Help Detached Buyers
Reston finished July with 187 active listings across all home types. The five-year July average is 109. Every segment posted its highest July inventory count in the five-year record: detached at 23, townhouses at 56, condos at 108.
A 72% jump above normal inventory sounds like the definition of a buyer’s market, and for condo shoppers it is. For anyone looking at a detached house, it is close to meaningless. Condos account for 58% of everything for sale in Reston and 40% of what actually sold in July. The pile is concentrated.
Two more numbers explain where the pile came from. Reston sellers brought 97 new listings to market in July, below the five-year July average of 105. Buyers closed 101 sales, above the five-year average of 93. Sellers are not flooding the market and buyers are not sitting out. Inventory rose because unsold units kept carrying over month after month, and most of them are condos.
The Number That Will Fool You
Reston’s average sale price fell 3.6% year over year in July. The average detached sale price fell 13.2%. Both numbers look like a market in retreat, and both are measuring composition rather than value.
The detached median rose 3.9% over the same period. Homes sold in 9 days. Buyers paid above asking. Year to date, detached closings are up 34.2% and the detached median is up 6.2%. What changed between July 2025 and July 2026 is the mix of houses that happened to close, not what a given house is worth.
Averages in a market this small swing hard. Reston recorded 22 detached sales in July. One unusual transaction moves the average several percentage points. The median and the sale-to-list ratio hold up better, and they both point up.
Anyone quoting you a headline number without telling you whether it is a mean or a median, and without telling you which segment it covers, is describing a market that does not exist.
What This Says About the Fall
Contract ratios in July give a reasonable preview of what closes in September and October, because a contract signed in July generally settles 30 to 60 days later.
Detached looks steady to strong. The contract ratio came in at 1.09 pendings per active listing, up from 0.92 in June and 0.71 last July. Detached is the only Reston segment where buyer competition intensified this year. Expect fall closings to stay quick and prices to hold.
Townhouses look softer. The contract ratio at 0.36 has fallen every month this summer and sits 65% below its five-year norm. Fall townhouse sellers will face more competition and fewer buyers than spring sellers did. Prices may not fall much, but days on market will stretch and negotiation will return.
Condos look flat to slightly down. The contract ratio at 0.21 runs 75% below the five-year July average of 0.83. Supply is still building. Nothing in the July data suggests condo prices reverse before winter.
Even the loosest segment in Reston, condos at 3.09 months of supply, still sits below the five to six months that economists generally consider a balanced market. Condo buyers gained leverage this year. They did not gain the kind of leverage that lets them name a price.
If You Are Selling in Reston
Detached sellers: July was the strongest set of conditions in this data. Nine days, 102.3% of original list, and a buyer pool that has absorbed a 35% increase in supply without blinking. If you have been waiting for the right moment, this is what one looks like.
Townhouse sellers: The window narrowed over the summer and it is still narrowing. Listing in September against 56 competitors with 35% fewer buyers in contract is a materially different job than listing in May was. Price to the current comparable sales rather than to the spring ones, and take the first serious offer seriously.
Condo sellers: Your original list price is the price that matters. The typical Reston condo sold for 98.3% of its original asking price in July, below the five-year July average of 99.1%. The median condo went under contract in 21 days, so a unit still sitting after a month reads to buyers as a listing with a problem, whether or not it has one. Get the price right on day one, and put real money into photography, paint, and flooring, because your unit sits alongside 107 others and most of them look similar in a search results page.
If You Are Buying in Reston
Detached buyers: Waiting for more inventory will not work. Detached listings already sit at a five-year July high and homes still sell in nine days at above asking. Get fully underwritten before you tour, decide in advance what you will pay, and be ready to write within 48 hours. Reston does not give you a second weekend to think about it.
Townhouse buyers: You are in the best position you have been in for three years. Sellers are still pricing against spring comparable sales while demand has fallen off. Ask for a home inspection contingency. Ask for closing cost help. Look at anything that has been listed more than 21 days, because those sellers are the ones doing math.
Condo buyers: You have 108 units to choose from and the leverage that comes with it. Use some of that leverage on due diligence rather than only on price. Reston condos carry two layers of ownership costs in many cases, the condominium association and Reston Association, and the resale packet tells you how well funded each of them is. Read the reserve study, the last two years of board minutes, and the master insurance summary. A building with a thin reserve and a special assessment coming is expensive at any discount. Virginia gives you a cancellation window after you receive the resale certificate, and it exists precisely so you can do this work.
Cash matters here too. Of the 101 Reston sales in July, 22 closed with cash, and 152 of the 652 sales year to date did. Roughly one buyer in four is not asking a lender’s opinion of the building. In a condo negotiation, that is who you may be bidding against.
Where This Leaves Reston
Reston in July looked like three separate towns sharing one zip code. A detached market with barely any supply and buyers stacked behind it. A townhouse market that quietly stopped being competitive somewhere around June. A condo market with real inventory, real negotiation, and no sign of reversing before winter.
The town-wide median of $630,000, up 4.1% from last July, describes none of them accurately. It sits between a segment climbing at 6% a year and a segment falling at 7%, and it lands on a number that applies to almost nobody.
If you are trying to figure out what your own home is worth, or what you can buy with what you have, the segment matters far more than the town. Ask about your rung.
