September 2026 at a glance
| Valleywide single family median | $786,625 | down 0.3% YoY |
| Valleywide price per square foot | n/a | down 0.5% YoY |
| Closed single family sales | 96 | down 19.2% valleywide, all types |
| New pending sales | n/a | up 15.1% YoY |
| Active inventory | n/a | down 9.4% YoY |
| Months of supply | just under 5 | 4 a year ago |
| Market condition | Balanced valleywide. Seller advantage in Belgrade. Buyer advantage above $1.5M. | |
What happened this month
The valleywide median moved three tenths of one percent over a full year, which continues a plateau that began in 2023. That headline conceals two markets moving in opposite directions: Belgrade appreciated 11.6% on genuine value gains, while Bozeman city limits and the surrounding county area both posted median declines caused by sharply lower closing volume rather than by falling home values.
Speed is the story that did change. Single family homes are going under contract in 13 to 17 days at 98 to 99% of asking, against roughly 30 days a year ago. Attached homes run on an entirely different clock at 51 days. Above $1.5 million the market has tipped to buyers, with roughly nine months of supply.
How to read these numbers
Two figures on this page can disagree, and understanding why prevents most of the misreadings I see.
Price per square foot measures what a foot of house costs. The median sale price is whichever sale lands in the middle when you line up every closing in a month from cheapest to most expensive. If several large houses close, the middle sale sits higher and the median rises even though no individual home gained a dollar. Fewer large sales and it falls the same way.
That distinction explains four of the six areas on this page this month. When closing volume swings sharply, price per square foot is the more reliable indicator of value, and the median is telling you about the mix of what sold.
Whatever you do, do not price your home off the valleywide median. Use your specific city and your specific property type.
What this means if you're selling
Start by finding your number, not the valley's. The headline median on this page describes six areas moving in different directions, and it's the wrong figure to price against. Pull the median for your city and your property type, then narrow to the closed comparables nearest your house. A Belgrade owner and a Bozeman city owner had opposite years, and pricing off a blended figure costs both of them.
You've got about two weeks of real attention. Single family homes are going under contract in 14 days inside Bozeman, 13 in Belgrade, and 17 valleywide, at 98 to 99% of asking, against roughly 30 days a year ago. Listing high and waiting for the right offer doesn't work in a window that short, because the buyers who would have paid your number saw it in week one, priced it against everything else available, and moved on. What replaces them is a slower audience with more leverage.
Where your area's read differs from the headline, trust the per-square-foot number. Inside Bozeman city limits the 5.5% decline isn't a $40,000 loss on your house, since twenty-nine homes closed where forty-eight closed last August and price per square foot moved less than 1%. The surrounding area shows the same mix effect at larger scale, though it also carries the widest competition in the valley at five and a half months of supply, so price and presentation both have to be sharper out there. Belgrade owners hold the strongest position anywhere in the valley this month and should price to the current market, because last year's comparables understate them.
Attached homes and the luxury tier run on different clocks. Condos and townhomes are taking 51 days valleywide and 57 inside the city against 17 for a house, so build sixty days into your calendar before listing rather than discovering it three weeks in. Above $1.5 million, the number to study is 25 days, which is what sold in August against a median of 90 days for what's still sitting. Sellers received a median of 96.7% of original asking, and the month's highest sale at $18,950,000 closed at exactly its asking price because it was never listed asking for negotiation.
What this means if you're buying
Use months of supply to know where you stand. Under four months, the seller sets the terms. Four to six is balanced, where neither side has much of an edge. Past six months it belongs to buyers. The valley sits just under five right now, so most of this market is genuinely balanced, and the exceptions in both directions are where your opportunity is.
Selection sits outside Bozeman city limits. At five and a half months of supply against four in town, the county ring around Bozeman is the widest market in the valley outside the small towns, and more homes sold out here in August than inside the city. If you've been searching only within city limits and wondering why so little comes up, widen the search rather than waiting for town inventory to improve. And don't hold out for city prices to keep sliding, because the 5.5% decline came from 40% fewer closings while price per square foot moved less than 1%.
Be ready to move in town and in Belgrade. Fourteen days and thirteen days respectively isn't enough time to start arranging financing after you find the house. Have your pre-approval done, your inspector chosen, and your walk-away number settled before you tour. Belgrade in particular is no longer the fallback option, since it's the tightest and fastest market in the valley and sellers are getting 98.7% of asking, so a discount offer there misreads what's happening.
The negotiating room is above $1.5 million and on the attached side. Above that line there are 246 active listings against 27 August sales, roughly nine months of supply, with the median asking price near $2.9 million against a median sale just over $2 million. So write the offer you actually want to write rather than the one you assume will be accepted. At lower price points, condos and townhomes sitting 51 days give you the same kind of room, because a seller at day forty is in a different frame of mind than one at day ten.
Area by area: single family homes
| Area | Median | YoY | $/sq ft YoY | Closed | Days | % of ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gallatin Valley | $786,625 | -0.3% | -0.5% | 96 | 17 | n/a |
| Bozeman city limits | $779,000 | -5.5% | under 1% | 29 | 14 | 98.9% |
| Surrounding Bozeman area | $1,300,000 | -13.3% | -1.2% | 34 | n/a | n/a |
| Belgrade | $613,900 | +11.6% | +5.5% | 23 | 13 | 98.7% |
| Manhattan | $680,000 | thin sample | n/a | 5 | n/a | n/a |
| Three Forks | $432,000 | thin sample | $249/sq ft | 4 | n/a | n/a |
| Big Sky (reported separately) | under $1.5M | n/a | n/a | 13 | n/a | n/a |
Big Sky is excluded from every valleywide figure on this page. It is a separate market with a different buyer pool, and folding thirteen sales at that price point into a countywide number distorts everything else.
Bozeman city limits
Twenty-nine houses closed in August against forty-eight a year ago, a loss of roughly 40% of the month's sales. When that much volume drops out, the median lands wherever the remaining houses happen to sit. Price per square foot moved less than 1%, which is the better indicator of what homes are actually worth here. Owners who saw the 5.5% figure and assumed a $40,000 loss should look at the per-square-foot number instead.
Surrounding Bozeman area
More houses sold outside the city line than inside it, thirty-four against twenty-nine, which matters if you have been searching only within city limits and finding few options. The 13.3% median decline sits on top of a per-square-foot figure that moved 1.2%, so this is the same volume effect at larger scale. At roughly five and a half months of supply against four months in town, this is the widest market for buyers in the valley outside the small towns.
Belgrade
The only area in the valley where both the median and price per square foot rose, across twenty-three closed sales. That sample is large enough to rule out a mix effect, which means homes here are genuinely worth more than a year ago. It is also the fastest market in the valley at 13 days, down from 31. A Belgrade owner at the median gained roughly $64,000 in twelve months, with some new construction in that mix.
Manhattan and Three Forks
Five sales and four sales respectively are not a reliable read on either market, and both figures are real closings. The durable fact is that Three Forks at $249 per square foot remains the least expensive place to buy anywhere in the Gallatin Valley by a wide margin.
Attached homes: condos and townhomes
| Valley median | $499,000 | -3.1% YoY |
| Price per square foot | n/a | +1.2% YoY |
| Days on market, valley | 51 | up 58% YoY |
| Days on market, city limits | 57 | vs 14 for single family |
Pricing held up on the attached side. Timing did not. Fifty-one days against seventeen for a house is the number to plan a fall listing around, and inside the city that spread widens to 57 against 14. Anyone listing a condo this fall should build sixty days into the calendar before going live rather than discovering it three weeks in.
The luxury market: above $1,500,000
| Active listings | 246 |
| Closed sales | 27 |
| Months of supply | approximately 9 |
| Median list price, active | just under $2,900,000 |
| Median sale price, closed | just over $2,000,000 |
| Days on market, active | 90 median |
| Days on market, sold | 25 median |
| % of original asking received | 96.7% median |
| Year to date, median above $1.5M | $2.2M, up 5% |
Under four months of supply and a seller sets the terms. Past six months it flips to buyers. At nine months, the top of this market has genuinely tipped, and it is the only segment in the valley where buyers hold a clear advantage right now.
The gap between the median asking price and the median sale price runs about 40%, which is a considerable amount of list price with no buyers behind it. Days on market confirms it is a real gap rather than a few outliers: active listings have sat a median of 90 days, while the ones that sold went in 25. What moves at this level moves quickly, and much of what is listed is not moving at all.
Measured against original asking prices rather than final list prices, which hides repricing, sellers received a median of 96.7%. Eleven of twenty-seven achieved full asking or better, and four closed below ninety cents on the dollar. Twelve of the twenty-seven closings landed between $1.5 and $2 million, and only four sales in the county cleared $4 million. The month's highest sale, at $18,950,000, closed at exactly the asking price in 46 days, because it was never listed asking for negotiation.
Big Sky
Thirteen homes closed at a median just under $1.5 million. Above the $1.5 million line the median came in around $2.5 million, roughly 25% higher than the Bozeman area's luxury figure. Unusually, condos above that line are pricing above houses this month, which is the reverse of everywhere else and reflects both a small sample and the genuine premium on high-end ski-access condos.
Supply and pipeline
| New pending sales, all types | +15.1% YoY |
| Closed sales, all types | -19.2% YoY |
| Single family pendings | +10% YoY |
| Single family closings | -23% YoY |
| Condo pendings | +30% YoY |
| Active inventory | -9.4% YoY |
More deals started in August than reached the closing table, which is a reversal from last year. Whether those pendings convert in September and October is the thing to watch, and it is a reason to treat this month's median with some caution.
This month on video
The general market update, area by area:
And the luxury breakdown above $1.5 million:
Common questions about the Bozeman market
What is the median home price in Bozeman right now?
The Gallatin Valley median single family price was $786,625 in August 2026, down 0.3% year over year. Inside Bozeman city limits the median was $779,000, a figure driven down by 40% fewer closings rather than by falling home values.
Is the Bozeman housing market crashing?
Prices have been effectively flat for four years, with 2024 near $778,000 and 2025 finishing around $785,000, a spread of roughly 1%. The market stopped rising after the 2020 to 2023 run without coming back down, which describes a plateau rather than a decline.
Do buyers or sellers have the advantage in Bozeman?
Valleywide supply sits just under five months, which is a balanced range where neither side holds a clear edge. Belgrade favors sellers at 13 days on market, and the segment above $1.5 million favors buyers at roughly nine months of supply.
How long do homes take to sell in Bozeman?
Single family homes went under contract in 14 days inside Bozeman, 13 days in Belgrade, and 17 days valleywide in August, at 98 to 99% of asking. Condos and townhomes took 51 days valleywide and 57 days inside the city.
Why can't I find Bozeman sold prices online?
Montana is a non-disclosure state, so sale prices are not public record and consumer sites cannot display them. Every figure on this page comes from closed sales in the Big Sky Country MLS.
How often is this page updated?
This report is updated at the beginning of each month using the prior month's closed sales. The reporting period and publication date are listed at the top of the page.
What do these numbers mean for your house?
The valleywide figure is almost certainly not your number. Every conversation I have starts instead with the closed comparables for your specific area and property type, which is the only version of this data that should inform a decision. That is what the Montana Move Method is built on. Book a call and I will pull them for you.
Published: September 2026 | Reporting period: August 2026 closed sales | Source: Big Sky Country MLS
Methodology and data source. All figures are drawn from closed sales in the Big Sky Country MLS for the reporting period stated at the top of this page. Montana is a non-disclosure state, meaning sale prices are not public record and cannot be shown by consumer valuation sites. Big Sky is reported separately and excluded from all valleywide figures. Areas with fewer than ten closings in a month are flagged as thin samples and should not be read as trend data. Luxury figures cover sales above $1,500,000 in Gallatin County and are measured against original asking prices rather than final list prices.