Columbus asking prices rose 18.5% in a year, and homes are taking longer to sell. Both facts come from the September 2026 inventory figures for the Columbus, MS metro area, which covers Lowndes County. The St. Louis Fed's FRED database publishes these figures each month. The median listing price in September 2026 was $261,200, up from $220,400 in September 2025. A buyer scrolling the portals sees that number and assumes the market is running hot. The rest of the same table points the other way.
The September scorecard
These rows come from FRED's September 2026 Columbus table. Each one is compared with September 2025.
| Measure, Columbus metro | Sept 2025 | Sept 2026 | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median listing price | $220,400 | $261,200 | Up 18.5% |
| Median listing price per sq ft | $129 | $126 | Down slightly |
| Median square footage listed | 2,100 | 2,072 | Down slightly |
| Median days on market | 78 | 88 | Up 10 days |
| Pending listings | 28 | 19 | Down by about a third |
| Active listings | 210 | 200 | Down slightly |
| Listings with a price cut | 58 | 60 | Roughly 3 in 10 active listings |
Only one row in that table supports the idea of a hot market, and it's the one row that doesn't adjust for what's being sold. When a square foot of listed Columbus house costs a little less than it did a year ago, the median rose because the homes on the market changed. The going rate for a square foot of house did not climb with it.
Look at the pace, too. In September 2025, 28 listings were pending against 210 active, a little over one in eight. In September 2026, 19 were pending against 200 active, closer to one in ten. Homes sat a median of 88 days, and 60 of the 200 active listings had already had their price cut.
The headline number is already coming down
Even the median listing price has been falling for three months. FRED's monthly series for the Columbus metro puts it at $289,900 in June 2026, $289,450 in July, $275,000 in August and $261,200 in September. Days on market went from 68 in August to 88 in September.
Lowndes County's own series follows the same path. In September 2026 its median listing price was $259,950, with 192 active listings and a median of 89 days on market. A year earlier the figures were $228,000, 203 listings and 77 days. So the gap between the year-over-year jump and the summer peak doesn't come from how the metro area is drawn.
FRED gets these numbers from listing data, and they track asking prices, not closing prices. The October figures are scheduled for November 5, 2026, a week after this post goes up.
Why the mix moved toward the top
A Columbus agent laid out the mechanism in a September 19, 2026 Commercial Dispatch report on Golden Triangle housing costs. Colin Krieger, a Realtor with RE/MAX in Columbus, told the paper that high interest rates keep owners in their starter homes. Because they don't move up, the market is short on mid-range homes, and that in turn discourages new building at lower prices.
"Most new construction of single-family residential homes is in the higher price points because there's still such a demand at the higher price point that there's no real incentive for them to build smaller homes," Krieger told The Dispatch. He also told the paper that the market is healthy. In his account, homes regularly sell within the expected time at fair market value, and many of the sales are luxury homes bought by retirees or by people moving to the region for high-paying industrial jobs.
The mid-range homes that would hold the median down mostly aren't for sale, because their owners are staying put. What does get listed leans toward the upper end, where buyers are fewer. That one pattern explains a higher median, flat price per square foot, slower sales and a steady run of price cuts.
Parkview shows the price of a new start downtown
The clearest place to see the economics of new construction in Columbus is Parkview, the Burns Bottom redevelopment between Third and Fourth streets and Second and Seventh avenues North. Friendly City Development, led by Nic and Garrett Parish and Saunders Ramsey, bought 17 acres of the redevelopment area from the city's redevelopment agency for $800,000 in August 2025. The Dispatch reported the groundbreaking in May 2026, with homes possibly finished in 2027, depending on when lot owners build.
The developer's price sheet dated June 15, 2026 lists Parkview lots at $55,000 to $90,000. That's for the land alone, before a builder pours a foundation. In the 2025 launch materials the same lots were priced at $48,000 to $80,000. When the dirt under a new house already costs a meaningful share of the county's $229,000 closed-sale median, the finished home won't land in the middle of the market.
The project's latest change points at the gap Krieger described. In August 2026, the developers proposed nine smaller lots designed for homes of about 1,500 square feet, which would bring Parkview to 49 residential lots. According to The Dispatch's coverage of the expansion, 12 lots had sold by then and six more were close. Parish told the paper what interested buyers were saying: "'I'm single.' Or, 'It's just me and my spouse, and I don't need a three-bedroom house. I need two-bedroom.' Or, 'I don't need a three-car garage.'"
So buyers are asking for smaller homes, and the developer is redrawing lots to offer them. Those homes are still at least a year away, though, which is part of why today's listings lean toward the upper end.
Asking prices and closing prices are two different markets
The September 19 Dispatch article also gave a closed-sale figure from Greater Golden Triangle Realtors data: a median sale price of $229,000 in Lowndes County for January through June 2026, up from $183,100 in the same months of 2021. That figure covers the first half of the year, so it is not a current-month number. It measures something different from the $261,200 September asking median, and the two shouldn't be read as competing estimates.
Set side by side, though, they show the same pattern from another direction. Homes that actually closed in Lowndes County in early 2026 sold for well below what homes on the market are listed for now, which is consistent with asking prices running ahead of what buyers have been willing to pay.
Affordability is part of the same story. The Dispatch worked through a 2026 payment example: with 3.5% down and a 7% rate, the average Lowndes County mortgage payment came to roughly $1,470 a month, compared with about $744 in 2021. At those payments, the pool of buyers for a $300,000-plus listing gets smaller, and that fits slower sales at the top.
What this means when you compare a Columbus listing this fall
The scorecard turns into a few practical checks when you look at a specific house:
- Compare price per square foot, not price alone. The metro's September 2026 median asking price per square foot was $126. A listing far above that should come with a reason you can see, such as new construction, a larger lot or a sought-after street.
- Read the days on market against 88. That was the metro median in September 2026. A home well past that has met the market and is still waiting for a buyer.
- Check the price history. About three in ten active listings had a cut in September 2026. A cut tells you the first number didn't hold.
- Ask what is pending nearby. With only 19 pending listings across the metro in September 2026, recent contracts on similar homes say more about value than the asking prices around them.
The longer-term picture has one more factor. Golden Triangle Development LINK has announced an Aluminum Dynamics recycled-aluminum slab center in Lowndes County: more than $200 million in investment, 100 new jobs, and operations expected in the first half of 2027. That's future demand. It isn't in this fall's numbers yet.
A few common questions
Are Columbus home prices rising or falling? It depends on which number you use. The median asking price was up year over year in September 2026 but has fallen each month since June 2026. Price per square foot was slightly lower than a year earlier.
Is the Columbus metro the same as Lowndes County? FRED's Columbus, MS metro area covers Lowndes County, and the two September 2026 series came out within a few thousand dollars and a few listings of each other.
When does the next data come out? FRED's next scheduled release for these series is November 5, 2026, with October figures.
Will Parkview add more affordable options? The nine smaller lots proposed in August 2026 are designed for homes of about 1,500 square feet. Builders' prices for those homes haven't been published.
If you're comparing Columbus listings this fall and want each one read against price per square foot, days on market and recent closings in its part of town, Delta-Gulf Real Estate Corporation can pull those comps for any home on your list. Explore Our Properties, and we'll help you see where an asking price stands before you make an offer.
