Des Moines, IA Housing Market 2026: What Homes Actually Sell For
What homes actually sell for in Des Moines: a median closing price of $215,000 across 1,742 closings Resideline tracked over the last six months, plus the full price spread.
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 September 2026.
The snapshot
- •Closings tracked, last 6 months: 1,742
- •Median sold price, last 6 months: $215,000
- •Median sold $/sqft, last 6 months: $191
- •Middle half of sales closed between: $160,000 and $285,000
What the numbers say
Resideline tracked 1,742 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 $160,000 and $285,000. 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 1,730 closings with usable living area, the middle half sold between $146 and $228 per square foot.
Figures last updated September 6, 2026 from closings Resideline tracked.
Median home price in Des Moines, IA (September 2026)
The median home price in Des Moines is $215,000, measured across the 1,742 closed sales Resideline tracked over the last six months. The middle half of those sales closed between $160,000 and $285,000.
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 that carry a usable sale date, trimmed to the 5th through 95th percentile, with the middle half of sales closing between $160,000 and $285,000. Among the 24 Iowa markets with a published band, Des Moines's middle-half spread ($160,000 to $285,000) ranks 11th from the narrowest. Where your target property sits inside that spread matters more than the citywide median. Measured as the ratio of the upper to the lower quartile, its middle-half spread ranks in the 61st percentile of the 2,187 US markets in Resideline's national Market Watch set, on data as of September 4, 2026.
How long a sale takes here
- •Listed to under contract: a median of 17 days, across 1,302 Des Moines closings Resideline tracked in the last six months
- •Contract to closing: a median of 35 days, across 1,274 Des Moines closings Resideline tracked in the last six months
Des Moines Real Estate Market Trends in 2026
Among the Des Moines closings with usable living area over the last six months, single-family houses closed at a median of $192 per square foot (1,570 sales), condos at $186 (58 sales), townhouses at $204 (51 sales) and multi-family homes at $128 (50 sales).
The Des Moines angle
Des Moines sits close to typical for the markets we track on closed-sale spread. Resideline tracked 1,742 closings over the last six months, the median closed sale price was $215,000, and the middle half of sales closed between $160,000 and $285,000. 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. 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
Geography: incorporated municipality, Census place 1921000
Data updated: September 2026
Analysis period: last six months
Tracked closings: 1,742
Median sold price: $215,000
Median sold $/sqft: $191 (1,730 qualifying)
Property mix: 91% houses
https://resideline.com/blog/des-moines-housing-market-2026
Writing about this market? Paste this into your post:
<a href="https://resideline.com/blog/des-moines-housing-market-2026">
<img src="https://resideline.com/images/embed/des-moines.png" alt="Des Moines, IA home sale price distribution, last six months" width="1000" style="max-width:100%;height:auto">
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<p>Source: <a href="https://resideline.com/blog/des-moines-housing-market-2026">Resideline Market Watch</a></p>
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 within the Des Moines 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 1,742 closings in this window never appeared on a listing service, and the median of MLS-listed sales alone was $223,000.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the median home price in Des Moines?
The median sold price in Des Moines over the last 6 months is $215,000, measured across 1,742 closings Resideline tracked.
How many homes sold in Des Moines last month?
Resideline tracked 247 closed sales in Des Moines in August 2026, out of 1,742 closings tracked over the last six months. These are tracked samples of market activity, not official county totals.
What is the typical sale price range in Des Moines?
The middle half of Des Moines sales over the last six months closed between $160,000 and $285,000, with a median of $215,000.
What is the typical price per square foot in Des Moines?
Among qualifying Des Moines closings Resideline tracked over the last six months, the median sold price per square foot was $191, measured across 1,730 sales with usable living area. Median is used rather than average because outliers distort the mean.
How wide is the typical price range for Des Moines closed sales?
The middle half of the 1,742 closings Resideline tracked over the last six months fell between $160,000 and $285,000, with a median of $215,000. That is close to typical for the markets we track, so the median means something, but it still spans a wide enough range that a single address needs matched comps. Filter closed sales to your subject's size and bed count, then check the result against the band.
What could a property in Des Moines be worth?
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