Rates Just Crossed 7%: Here’s What That Means for Crawfordsville Buyers and Sellers
As a Certified Appraiser, I don’t just watch what’s listed. I watch what things are actually worth, and what buyers can actually afford to pay for them.
This month, the biggest number isn’t a home price. It’s a mortgage rate.
The Number Everyone Is Talking About
Freddie Mac’s weekly survey put the average 30-year fixed rate at 7.28% on October 1. That’s up from 7.03% the week before and up from 6.34% a year ago.¹
Rates move prices less than people think, but they move payments a lot. Here’s what it looks like on a typical Crawfordsville purchase. Take a home at about $205,000 with 20% down, which means a loan of roughly $164,000:
| A year ago (6.34%) | Today (7.28%) | |
|---|---|---|
| Principal & interest | about $1,019/mo | about $1,122/mo |
| Difference | about +$103/mo (about $1,230/yr) |
That’s principal and interest only, before taxes and insurance, and it’s my own math using the Freddie Mac rates above. Your numbers will differ. Run your own on my mortgage calculator.
What Homes in Crawfordsville Are Actually Selling For
Here’s where the “which number do I trust?” problem shows up. You’ll see three different Crawfordsville prices online, and they’re all measuring something different:
- What closed: Redfin’s most recent Crawfordsville figures show a median sale price of $204,897 (July 2026), up 3.5% from a year earlier. 91 homes sold, up 9.7%. The typical home went under contract in about 16 days, and sold for 97.7% of the asking price.²
- What’s estimated: Zillow’s home value index put the typical Crawfordsville home at $231,178 at the end of August, up 3.7% year over year.³
- What’s asking: Asking prices run higher still, which is why my September update’s list-price figure looks bigger than either of these.
A median sale price, a value index, and an asking price are three different questions. When you’re deciding what to pay or what to list for, the closed-sale number is the one a lender’s appraiser will lean on first.
Montgomery County as a Whole
Zoom out to the county and it looks a little softer. Redfin shows a median sale price of $207,306 for the three months ending in August, down 10.8% from the same period last year. Homes took a median of 18 days to sell, up from 14. Just 54 homes sold in August, down about 4%.⁴
Notice that the typical sale price is lower, yet sellers are still getting 98.5% of asking, and nearly 1 in 5 homes (19.7%) sold above list. A county median can swing a lot with just a few dozen sales, and it can shift simply because a different mix of homes closed that month. That’s why I never price a house off a median alone.
If You’re Buying This Fall
- Get your payment number before you fall in love with a house. At 7.28%, the same budget buys a little less than it did a year ago.
- Don’t wait for the perfect rate. Nobody, including me, can tell you where rates will be next spring. Zillow’s data shows about half of Crawfordsville sales in July (50.5%) closed below list, so there is room to negotiate on the right house.³
- Ask about assistance. If you’re a first-time buyer or a veteran, look at the programs in my Indiana military homebuyer programs guide and my breakdown of what buyers and sellers actually pay at closing.
If You’re Selling This Fall
Buyers have a tighter budget this month. That doesn’t mean they’ve stopped buying. Homes are still going under contract in about two weeks. It means price accuracy matters more. A home priced to the number a buyer’s payment can support gets looked at. One priced above it sits.
I wrote more about this in How Long Does It Take to Sell a Home in Montgomery County?. If you’re curious what your home would appraise for today, request a valuation and I’ll walk you through it.
Looking Back
If you want the trend line, my September and August updates are right here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are mortgage rates going up in October 2026? Freddie Mac’s October 1 survey showed the average 30-year fixed rate at 7.28%, up from 7.03% the week before and 6.34% a year earlier. Weekly rates can move either way, so check the latest before you run numbers.
What is the median home price in Crawfordsville, Indiana? Redfin reported a median sale price of $204,897 for Crawfordsville in July 2026, up 3.5% from a year earlier. Zillow’s home value index showed $231,178 for the typical Crawfordsville home at the end of August. They differ because one counts closed sales and the other estimates the value of all homes.
Is it a good time to sell a home in Montgomery County? Homes in Crawfordsville are still going under contract in about two weeks, and many sell near asking price. Pricing your home accurately matters most when buyers’ budgets are tighter.
John Downey is a top-three Montgomery County REALTOR® and Indiana Certified Appraiser since 2006.
Thinking about buying or selling this fall? Reach out and I’ll walk through what these numbers mean for your situation. → Contact John
Sources: ¹ Freddie Mac, Primary Mortgage Market Survey, Oct. 1, 2026 ² Redfin, Crawfordsville housing market ³ Zillow, Crawfordsville home values ⁴ Redfin, Montgomery County housing market
