Des Moines, IA Housing Market 2026: What Homes Actually Sell For

If you invest in or around Des Moines, the number that matters is what homes actually close for, not what sellers are asking. Here is what Des Moines sale prices look like right now, built from the closings Resideline tracked over the last six months, as of August 2026.

The snapshot

• •Closings tracked, last 6 months: 1,722
• •Median sold price, last 6 months: $215,000
• •Median sold $/sqft, last 6 months: $190
• •Middle half of sales closed between: $162,500 and $286,500

What the numbers say

Resideline tracked 1,722 closed sales in Des Moines over the last six months, with a median closing price of $215,000. That median is the midpoint of what buyers actually paid, not what sellers hoped to get, which is why it moves differently from the asking prices you see on listing sites. The middle half of those sales closed between $162,500 and $286,500. That spread matters more than the headline median: where a specific property sits inside it decides whether the citywide number helps you or misleads you. These are the closings Resideline tracks and may differ from complete county or municipal records. The large tracked sample provides substantial market-level evidence. 91% of the Des Moines closings we track here are single-family houses, so these figures primarily reflect that segment, and the citywide $/sqft figure primarily reflects that segment as well. Across the 1,710 closings with usable living area, the middle half sold between $146 and $228 per square foot.

Figures last updated August 22, 2026 from closings Resideline tracked.

Median home price in Des Moines, IA (August 2026)

The median home price in Des Moines is $215,000, measured across the 1,722 closed sales Resideline tracked over the last six months. The middle half of those sales closed between $162,500 and $286,500.

Where Des Moines sale prices land

Medians hide the shape of a market. The distribution above covers the closed sales Resideline tracked in Des Moines over the last six months, trimmed to the 5th through 95th percentile, with the middle half of sales closing between $162,500 and $286,500. Where your target property sits inside that spread matters more than the citywide median.

How long a sale takes here

• •Listed to under contract: a median of 18 days, across 1,297 Des Moines closings Resideline tracked in the last six months
• •Contract to closing: a median of 35 days, across 1,267 Des Moines closings Resideline tracked in the last six months

The Des Moines angle

Des Moines sits close to typical for the markets we track on closed-sale spread. Resideline tracked 1,722 closings over the last six months, the median closed sale price was $215,000, and the middle half of sales closed between $162,500 and $286,500. With a band of that width, the median has real but partial predictive value: it will get you close to the right order of magnitude, and matched comps have to do the rest. The upper part of the middle band runs further from the median than the lower part, so higher-priced subjects are the ones where a citywide anchor drifts.

From market read to offer price

A market read is the backdrop. The decision still comes down to one property and one number: what it is actually worth and what you should pay. Every Resideline report opens with this same market snapshot for the subject's exact ZIP code, then gives you the property's value, the sold comps behind it, and a market rent estimate. Pricing a specific deal? The free ARV calculator and rental property calculator run the numbers in about a minute.

And we show our work. Every estimate is frozen while the home is for sale and graded against the real closing price after it sells. As of August 2026, the public scoreboard showed 3.26% median error across 12,516+ graded closings. See the live accuracy dashboard for the receipts, or read how the Area Market Snapshot works.

Run any Des Moines address through Resideline and you will see the local market and the property's value together, in one report.

Cite this

Using these numbers? Please cite the source and the sample size:

Source: Resideline Market Watch
Market: Des Moines, IA
Data updated: August 2026
Analysis period: last six months
Tracked closings: 1,722
Median sold price: $215,000
Median sold $/sqft: $190 (1,710 qualifying)
Property mix: 91% houses
https://resideline.com/blog/des-moines-housing-market-2026

The local market statistics in this report are calculated from closed sales tracked by Resideline. Transaction coverage may differ from complete county or municipal records.

Every local market figure on this page is computed from closed sales Resideline tracked in Des Moines over the last six months, and is refreshed when the data is. The closings we track inside the city limits are not limited to listing-service sales: they also include foreclosure deeds, estate and family transfers, and other off-market sales that portal medians exclude, which is why 12% of the 1,722 closings in this window never appeared on a listing service, and the median of MLS-listed sales alone was $223,022.