Were 8 Withdrawn Listings a Sign the Madison County Market Is Slowing?
No. Six of the eight listings withdrawn in Madison County the week of August 24–30, 2026 were new-construction spec homes in two Richmond neighborhoods, all pulled by the same builder on the same day — a routine inventory move, not eight separate sellers losing confidence. The resale market you actually compete in stayed steady: a 24-day median days on market and sellers netting 94–96% of their original asking price.
By Devin Todd Azbill, REALTOR® | August 31, 2026
If you glanced at this week’s Madison County numbers and saw eight withdrawn listings, you probably had the same reaction most people do: uh oh, is the market turning? It’s a fair question. But the number doesn’t mean what it looks like it means, and if you’re weighing whether to list your home this fall, it’s worth understanding why before you let a headline change your plans.
The headline numbers
Here’s what actually happened across Madison County this week:
38 new listings hit the market — a healthy pace for late August
15 homes closed
$300,000 median sold price countywide
52 days average days on market — but a 24-day median
Sellers netted about 96% of their original asking price, on average
That gap between the 52-day average and the 24-day median is worth pausing on. A handful of homes sat well over 100 days and dragged the average up. Half the homes that sold this week went under contract in under a month. If your home is priced right and shows well, 24 days is a far more realistic expectation than 52.
What those 8 withdrawals actually were
MLS status codes get used interchangeably, and that’s where most of the confusion starts. Withdrawn means the listing agreement is still active — the seller simply isn’t showing the home right now. That’s different from expired, where the agreement ran its full course with no sale, and different again from cancelled, where the agreement was terminated early. Lump all three together and you get a number that sounds alarming and tells you almost nothing.
Six of this week’s eight withdrawals were new-construction homes in Richmond’s Ashwood and Walnut Grove neighborhoods, priced from the high $500s up to $829,000. All six came off the market on the same day. That’s not six families independently deciding to give up — that’s one builder making a single business decision, likely to reset the days-on-market clock, refresh photography, or adjust pricing heading into fall. Builders reposition inventory like this routinely. It just happens to show up in a single week’s data as a spike.
Strip those six out, and what’s left tells a much calmer story. Only two homes actually expired this week — one on Vineyard Way in Berea, one on Madison Street — and both had barely moved off their original price, with cuts of only 2–3% before the listing agreements ran out. These weren’t homes that got aggressively repriced and still couldn’t find a buyer. They were homes that never really tested a lower number in the first place.
If you’re a regular homeowner thinking about listing this fall, this is the takeaway: the scary-looking withdrawal number was a luxury-builder event. It isn’t a signal about your neighborhood or your price range.
Why new construction and resale don’t play by the same rules
This is something worth understanding before you set your own expectations, because it comes up almost every week. New-construction and resale homes behave differently, and comparing your resale listing to a builder’s numbers will set you up for the wrong expectations.
This week’s numbers make the gap obvious. New-construction homes that closed sold at almost 99% of their original list price. Resale homes — homes people have actually lived in — sold at about 94%. That’s a five-point spread.
The reason comes down to negotiating posture. Builders hold their price and wait. They’ve already priced in their carrying costs, they’re not emotionally attached to the property, and they’d rather sit a few extra weeks than come down. A private seller is almost always more flexible — which is normal, and not a bad thing, but it does mean the countywide 96% figure you’ll see quoted is being propped up by new construction.
If you’re getting ready to price your resale home, a realistic target is closer to 94%, not 96%. It’s not a huge gap, but it’s the kind of thing you want to know going in rather than discovering at the closing table.
Price per square foot tells the same story: new construction closed around $213/sq ft this week, versus roughly $141/sq ft for resale. Different products, different numbers — don’t blend them together when you’re sizing up your own home.
Berea and Richmond, city by city
Berea had a balanced week: 16 new listings, 14 homes under contract, and 7 closings. The median sold price was $245,000, and homes sold at essentially 100% of their most recent list price — a sign that Berea sellers are pricing accurately and buyers are meeting them there. Failures stayed light: two expirations, two withdrawals, one cancellation. Nothing here points to a shift.
Richmond carried most of the week’s volume — 56 of the county’s 98 total status changes happened there, with 8 closings and a median sold price around $352,000.
One number is worth flagging so it doesn’t mislead you: if you isolate Richmond’s resale-only sales this week, the median comes out to roughly $191,000 at about $99/sq ft — numbers that would suggest Richmond resale values just fell off a cliff. They didn’t. Only four resale homes closed in Richmond this week, and three were low-end cash deals ranging from $74,000 to $83,000, with one $616,000 sale at the top pulling the middle around. With a sample that small and that spread out, the median lands almost wherever the data happens to fall. It’s a small-sample fluke, not a trend, and it’s not a number worth repeating as this week’s “real” Richmond figure.
Who’s actually buying right now
Cash led the way this week — 40% of closings were cash deals — but it wasn’t evenly spread. Cash showed up concentrated at the two extremes: sub-$100,000 investor and fixer-upper deals on one end, and a couple of high-end purchases on the other. The $200,000–$400,000 range, where most buyers live, is still being carried by FHA, conventional, and VA financing. Your typical mortgage buyer is alive and well.
About a third of this week’s buyers came from outside Madison County, continuing a relocation trend into the area, and two sellers moved out of state entirely. First-time buyers made up roughly one in five closings — steady, right where they’ve been.
What this means if you’re thinking about selling
Don’t let a raw number scare you before you understand what’s underneath it. Eight withdrawals sounded like a soft market. Look closer, and it’s one builder repositioning six spec homes on a single day. The market you actually live in — Berea, resale Richmond, the rest of the county — stayed steady: homes priced right sold in about three and a half weeks, and sellers walked away with 94–96% of their original asking price.
Your specific number depends on your home’s condition, location, and timing — that’s exactly the kind of thing a local comps analysis sorts out. It’s what I walk every seller through before we even talk about listing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the difference between a withdrawn, expired, and cancelled listing?
A withdrawn listing means the listing agreement is still active, but the seller has temporarily stopped showing the home. An expired listing ran its full term without selling. A cancelled listing was terminated before its term was up. All three can look similar in raw counts, but they mean very different things about a seller’s situation.
Why do new-construction homes sell closer to their asking price than resale homes?
Builders typically hold their price and wait rather than negotiate, since they’ve built carrying costs into their pricing and aren’t emotionally attached to any single home. Private resale sellers tend to be more flexible, which is why resale homes in Madison County are selling for a few points less of their original list price than new construction.
How long are homes actually staying on the market in Madison County right now?
The average is 52 days, but that’s skewed by a handful of homes that sat well over 100 days. The median — a better read on a typical home — was 24 days the week of August 24–30, 2026, meaning half of homes that sold went under contract in under a month.
Is now a good time to sell my home in Berea or Richmond, KY?
For homes priced accurately, yes — Berea sellers sold at essentially 100% of list price this week, and countywide resale sellers averaged 94–96%. The market is steady, not slowing; the recent spike in withdrawn listings was tied to one builder’s inventory decision, not broader buyer demand.
Why did Richmond’s resale home prices look so low this week?
Only four resale homes closed in Richmond this week, and the sample was skewed by two very low-priced cash deals. With that few sales, the median can land almost anywhere — it’s a small-sample fluke, not a reflection of actual Richmond resale values.
If you have questions about what’s happening in the Madison County market, I’m always happy to chat. Reach out anytime at toddky.com/contact.
About Devin Todd Azbill, REALTOR®
Devin Todd Azbill is a licensed REALTOR® with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Foster Realtors and a lifelong Berea, Kentucky resident with over 100 closed transactions and $21M+ in career sales volume. She holds the ABR, SRES, PSA, e-PRO, and AHWD designations, was named a Top 2 BHHS agent in Kentucky (Q2 2025), and has earned 175 five-star reviews across Google, Zillow, Realtor.com, and FastExpert. Whether you’re buying, selling, downsizing, or relocating to Madison County, Devin brings local expertise, data-driven insights, and a proven track record to every transaction.
