Foley's median price has barely moved in a year. Days on market have. That gap is the story, and it is not the story most buyers hear when they open a portal and see a single number sitting next to the city name.
The reader who lands on Foley after comparing it to Fairhope, Daphne, or Gulf Shores usually arrives with a rough figure in mind and a plan to work backward from it. The problem with that plan is that Foley's median is being held in place by a very specific kind of supply, and that supply is not evenly distributed across town. Once you see where the new inventory is concentrated and where the corridor investment is landing, the median stops being a price and starts being an artifact.
The number, and the number underneath it
Foley's median sale price sat at roughly $328,000 heading into 2026, up about 2.1% year over year, with homes taking around 95 days to sell compared to 64 days the prior year. By mid-summer the listing median had drifted to $329,000 with days on market near 97. Two percent growth on a nearly 50% jump in time-to-sell is not a healthy equilibrium. It is a market where sellers are holding prices and buyers are taking their time, and both are being allowed to do so because inventory keeps refilling.
Zoom out to Baldwin County and Foley leads the county in closings some months, with roughly 70 to 90 homes closing monthly through the second half of 2025 against a stable pool of about 200 active listings. That is a market with real demand. It is also a market where the ceiling on price is being set by something other than buyer psychology.
The ceiling is being poured, not negotiated
The reason the median holds flat is that a large share of Foley's transactable inventory is new construction from national builders, and national builders would rather cut incentives, buy down rates, or throw in appliances than let a headline sale price fall. Anyone shopping Foley has seen the community names, whether they realized it or not:
- Roberts Cove — D.R. Horton, one-story plans like the Ryder and Cairn in the 2,000-square-foot range
- Magnolia Pines — D.R. Horton, cottage plans starting around 1,417 to 1,504 square feet
- Bienville Landing — D.R. Horton, similar cottage footprint
- Iron Horse — D.R. Horton, single-story four-bedroom plans around 1,835 square feet
That is one national builder anchoring at least four active Foley communities, alongside DSLD Homes and other regional builders working nearby. Newhomesource lists roughly 97 new-construction communities in the greater Foley area. When resale sellers price against those subdivisions, the builder sets the number and the resale has to justify why it is worth the same money without the warranty and the new appliances. This is why days on market stretched while price barely moved. Sellers who refuse to reprice are simply waiting longer for the buyer who wanted an older lot, a bigger yard, mature trees, or an address closer to downtown.
What $328,000 actually buys in three parts of Foley
The median is one number. What it purchases depends entirely on where in Foley you look.
| Sub-area | Around the median gets you | The tradeoff |
|---|---|---|
| New-build subdivisions off Highway 59 and the Beach Express | ~1,900 sq ft, 4 bed / 2 bath, one-story, small lot, builder warranty | Builder-set finishes, HOA, minimal shade, similar neighbors |
| Central Foley resale | Older 3 bed / 2 bath on a larger lot, walkable to downtown, mature landscaping | Roof, HVAC, and insurance age matter; expect longer marketing time |
| Toward Elberta and the county fringe | More land, sometimes waterfront-adjacent parcels, custom or semi-custom builds | Longer commute, fewer utility conveniences, thinner comps |
The buyer who fixates on the $328,000 figure without asking which of those three products they actually want is the buyer who overpays in one column and underestimates in another. The Ashurst Niemeyer read on Baldwin County put it plainly for the second half of 2025: Foley offers buyers the most choice in the county, and Gulf Shores sellers should prepare for longer listing times. Foley is the choice-heavy market. Choice is what a flat median with widening days on market looks like from the inside.
The Beach Express corridor is quietly repricing itself
While the residential median sits still, the commercial and industrial spine of Foley is not sitting still at all. The Beach Express corridor and its feeder roads have taken on most of the city's recent capital investment, and that is going to matter for anyone buying a house within a fifteen-minute drive of it.
A few concrete points in the last twelve months:
- In March 2026 the Alabama Industrial Development Authority approved a $3.33 million SEEDS grant for a 121-acre industrial site in Foley, selected as the top pick out of sixteen sites statewide, with Mayor Ralph Hellmich announcing the purchase.
- Baldwin Cold Logistics is developing a $27 million, roughly 91,650-square-foot cold storage facility along the Foley Beach Express, addressing a regional shortfall in cold storage space.
- Green Heath Laboratories announced a Foley testing facility projected to create up to 50 jobs and about $3.4 million in capital investment.
- A new Publix is under construction at the southwest corner of the Beach Express and County Road 20, with a Cobblestone Inn hotel rising at Miflin Road and Koniar Way and a Wingstop taking space in Gallery 59.
- Cook Out opened on South McKenzie in April 2026, filling in the retail edge on the highway side of town.
None of this shows up on a Redfin median line. All of it shows up in what a house near CR-20 or the Beach Express is worth two years from now, particularly for buyers who want walkable errands or short commutes to a payroll-generating employer. The households moving in from Atlanta, Chicago, and Los Angeles that Redfin flags as Foley's top out-of-metro searchers are not shopping the same map that a long-time Baldwin County resident is shopping. They tend to price convenience and proximity to new retail over lot size, which pushes value toward the corridor faster than the citywide median can register.
Where the friction actually lives in a Foley transaction
Buyers who move quickly on the first listing they like tend to hit the same three snags. All three are downstream of the pattern above.
Appraisal risk on resales near new-build subdivisions. When a builder is closing homes at a set price with incentives baked in, the recorded sale price is what feeds the comps. A well-kept 20-year-old resale two streets over can appraise below its contract because the comps favor the builder's number. Contract language around appraisal gaps matters more here than in a market where resale is the whole story.
HOA and community documents on the newer subdivisions. Alabama's disclosure regime leans on the buyer to ask. Roberts Cove, Iron Horse, Magnolia Pines, and Bienville Landing each carry their own covenants and fee structures. Reading them during the inspection window rather than a week before closing is not optional if short-term rental use, fencing, or parking will matter to how the household actually lives.
Time on market as a negotiating input, not just a stat. With average days on market near 97, a listing that has sat 60 days is not necessarily overpriced. It may simply be waiting for its buyer. A listing that has sat 130 days with two price cuts is a different conversation. Reading the price history carefully is how a Foley buyer earns real concessions in 2026, rather than lowballing a fresh listing and losing it to a builder-financing buyer who never touched the resale market.
A few questions worth answering directly
Is Foley a buyer's market or a seller's market right now? Neither, cleanly. Prices are steady and closings are strong, which favors sellers. Days on market have stretched materially and inventory stays refilled by new construction, which favors patient buyers. Whichever role you play, patience is the operative word.
Are the new-build subdivisions a better deal than resale? They are a different deal. New construction gives predictability on finish and warranty and often a builder-financed rate. Resale gives lot size, established landscaping, and negotiating room. The right answer depends on which of those you are actually paying for.
Will the Beach Express industrial buildout change what my house is worth? For houses within a short drive of the corridor, likely yes, and likely upward over a multi-year window as the SEEDS site, cold storage, lab, and retail come online. The catch is that infrastructure timelines are longer than most buyers plan for. That is a fact to factor into a five-to-ten-year hold, not a reason to overpay this quarter.
The median tells you what Foley cost last month. It does not tell you what part of Foley is actually moving underneath it. If you want a read on which of the three Foleys fits your household, your timeline, and the number you can defend at appraisal, Stacy Burgos Rodgers is happy to walk through it street by street. Let's connect.
