Is it a buyer’s market in Meridian Idaho right now?

No, it is not a buyer’s market in Meridian Idaho right now. One number settles that faster than any opinion I could hand you. Buyer’s market or seller’s market? That is the question I get asked more than any other. Yet it is close to the least useful one on the list.

The label describes a whole county. You are buying one house, from one seller, who has one reason for selling.

So let’s walk through the real numbers. Then what the label actually means, and what you can negotiate either way.

What do the Meridian numbers actually say right now?

Ada County ran 2.07 months of supply in August 2026. Alongside that sat 1,979 active listings, 1,269 pending, and 955 homes sold. Those figures come from Intermountain MLS data reported by Treasure Valley Dave, published September 9, 2026. Homes sold came in 14.78% above a year earlier. The 30 year rate on that same snapshot is 6.87%.

Months of supply is how long it would take to sell everything on the shelf if nobody restocked it. Two months is a bare shelf.

For Meridian on its own, the median sold price was $586,850 in July 2026. That is up 10.7% year over year, per Intermountain MLS data reported by We Know Boise. Additionally, the same report puts Ada County at a $602,875 median. July brought 15 median days on market and 944 closed sales.

What actually counts as a buyer’s market?

Most of us use the same rough scale. Under about four months of supply is a seller’s market. Four to six is balanced. Over six is a buyer’s market.

That scale is a convention, not a law of physics. Nobody at the county recorder’s office certifies it.

At 2.07 months, Ada County sits deep on the seller’s side of that line.

Then why does everybody say the market is slowing down?

Because two true numbers are sitting next to each other and they tell different stories.

July’s MEDIAN days on market for Ada County was 15. August’s AVERAGE days on market was 37.

Those are two different measurements, and the gap between them is the whole point. A median is the house in the exact middle of the pile. An average gets dragged around by the outliers. One overpriced house that sat for eleven months barely nudges the median. It hammers the average.

So the honest read is that most homes are still moving quickly. Meanwhile, a growing tail of homes is not moving at all. If your house is in that tail, the county’s average feels very real to you. If you are the buyer, that tail is where your leverage lives.

How does Meridian compare to a real buyer’s market?

Signal	What a buyer’s market looks like	What Ada County actually showed
Months of supply	Over 6	2.07 in August 2026
Direction of sales	Falling	Up 14.78% year over year in August 2026
Prices	Flat or sliding	Meridian median up 10.7% in July 2026
Days on market	Long and climbing	Median 15 days in July, average 37 days in August
Who holds the leverage	The buyer, on most houses	The seller, on most houses

Every figure in that right column comes from IMLS data reported by We Know Boise and Treasure Valley Dave. Notice the days on market row disagrees with itself. That is not an error. Instead, it is a median and an average sitting in the same table. Notably, that row is the most useful one there.

Is more supply on the way in Meridian?

Some, eventually. BoiseDev reported on August 21, 2026 that Trilogy Development is planning 1,195 units on 207 acres in north Meridian. Specifically, on McMillan Road between Can Ada and Star Road. The mix is 464 single-family homes, 405 townhomes, 94 cottages, and 232 apartments.

Read the next part before you start planning around it. However, that project has not been formally submitted to the City of Meridian yet. First it has to clear the approval process, before a single foundation gets poured.

Meridian is also growing fast enough that supply keeps getting absorbed. The city counted 117,635 people in the 2020 Census. Meanwhile the Census Bureau’s July 1, 2025 estimate puts it at 142,988. That is a 21.4% jump in five years. Owner-occupied housing runs 74.6%. Furthermore, mean travel time to work is 22.4 minutes, both from the 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey.

Waiting for a wave of new rooftops to hand you a discount is a long bet. Especially on a town that keeps filling up.

So what can I actually negotiate if it is not a buyer’s market?

More than the label suggests, and this is the part I wish more buyers understood.

Back in 2014 I worked with a first time buyer here in Meridian. Her family was helping her get into her first place. The house we liked was a recent flip. Flips can be excellent and flips can be lipstick. Therefore we ordered a very thorough inspection instead of the quick version.

The inspection found things. We asked for those to be fixed, and separately we asked for $10,500 off the purchase price.

We got both.

That was 2014, in a market nobody would have called a buyer’s market. The discount did not come from the market. It came from one house with a specific problem, one seller with a specific motivation, and a willingness to ask.

That is the pattern I have watched hold for fourteen years. Leverage is not handed out county-wide. It shows up house by house, and it usually shows up in the house that has been sitting.

Does any of this mean I should wait?

I would not make that decision off a supply number. Frankly, I say that as somebody who would benefit from you buying today.

The “wait for rates to drop” game usually costs more than buying now. A primary home is shelter first, not an investment. If the move makes sense for your life, stop waiting on the market.

I am the agent who will talk you out of a deal if it’s not right for you, and that’s exactly why people trust me. Say your lease is up in November and your commute is eating you alive. Then a 2.07 month supply number does not change your life. It just tells you how hard the middle of the market is going to push back.

Send me the subdivision you are watching, or an address. Then I will pull what actually sold around it and tell you where the soft spot is. Start with the Meridian hub page. Next, see how long it takes to sell a house in Meridian, or read about how I negotiate in Meridian.

Stop waiting for somebody to declare a buyer’s market. Go find the one seller who needs to sell.

Garrett with Living in Idaho at LPT Realty.

Updated September 2026