Orange Beach is gaining value while Gulf Shores is taking longer
This is not one beach market. It is two different risk profiles, and your strategy should match the one you are actually in.
This is not a personality test. Do you own near the water, or are you planning to buy there? Either way, the numbers say your pricing and hold-time math should be different depending on which side of the Pass you are on.
The headline number
| Orange Beach | Gulf Shores | |
|---|---|---|
| Median sale price | $735,000 | $500,500 |
| Price change, year over year | +6.5% | -9% |
| Median days on market | 90 days | 103 days |
| Days change, year over year | 9 days shorter | 13 days longer |
| Months of supply | 6.1 months | 7.5 months |
| Sale-to-list ratio | 96.2% | 96.5% |
Orange Beach moved 288 homes in the period, according to the Real Estate Data Aggregator. That is up 6.7% from the same three months in 2025. Gulf Shores moved 302 homes, down 9% from a year before. More sales, lower prices, longer days: that is the Gulf Shores result right now.
What the supply picture tells you
Gulf Shores sits at 7.5 months of supply, per the Real Estate Data Aggregator. That is a buyer's market by most measures. Orange Beach is at 6.1 months, down 1.8 months from a year ago. Supply is tightening in Orange Beach. It is not tightening fast enough in Gulf Shores.
Realtor.com reported that mortgage rates surged above 7% for the first time since January 2025. That matters here. A buyer financing a $500,500 Gulf Shores home at 7% carries a meaningfully different monthly number than they planned six months ago. That pressure slows decisions and keeps days on market climbing.
Pending sales say where things are going
Pending sales are a forward signal. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 356 pending sales in Orange Beach, up 22.3% from the same period in 2025. Gulf Shores counted 374 pending sales, up just 0.8%. Orange Beach is building momentum. Gulf Shores is holding even.
The wider context
Nationally, the Federal Housing Finance Agency reported U.S. house prices rose 2.6% from July 2025 to July 2026. Orange Beach is outrunning that. Gulf Shores is running the other direction.
Realtor.com also reported that 20.8% of listings nationally took a price cut in September, the highest share since October 2022. That is the environment sellers in Gulf Shores are working inside. Price your home against what actually sold, not what neighbors listed.
What this means if you own in Gulf Shores
The Real Estate Data Aggregator shows homes in Gulf Shores selling at 96.5% of list price on average. That sounds close. But with a median of $500,500 and 7.5 months of supply, a seller who prices at the top of the range is carrying real holding-time risk. Thirteen more days on market than a year ago is not a rounding error. It is a cost.
- Gulf Shores: prices down 9%, days up 13, supply at 7.5 months.
- Orange Beach: prices up 6.5%, days down 9, pending sales up 22.3%.
- Same coast.
- Different outcomes.
- Your strategy should match your market, not the headline.
What this means if you own in Orange Beach
Orange Beach is not without risk. Supply is still at 6.1 months. Rates above 7%, per Realtor.com, thin the buyer pool for homes priced above $700,000. The sale-to-list ratio ticked up 0.7 points to 96.2%, per the Real Estate Data Aggregator. That is a good sign. But 90 days is still 90 days, and a home priced past what the market will carry will sit.
Bear Point, Terry Cove and Ono each carry an Orange Beach address and each reads differently. Ono tends to hold value better. Terry Cove is established and waterfront-driven. Bear Point has more vacation-rental inventory in the mix. One ZIP code number does not tell you what your specific street is doing.
A look across Baldwin County
- 1Orange Beach$735,000
- 2Magnolia Springs$580,000
- 3Fairhope$559,000
- 4Gulf Shores$500,500
- 5Spanish Fort$405,874
- 6Elberta$350,000
- 7Daphne$345,000
- 8Foley$324,551
- 9Robertsdale$309,500
Spanish Fort posted a 9.8% price gain, per the Real Estate Data Aggregator, and cut its days on market by 5. Fairhope gained 9.3% on price. Robertsdale gained 8.6% and sold 46.3% more homes than the same period a year ago. These are year-round residential markets, and several of them are outperforming the beach right now.
Foley sold 328 homes in the period, up 11.9%, with a median of $324,551, per the Real Estate Data Aggregator. Foley is a growth market with active new construction. If you are comparing a resale there against a builder's offer, price the resale against the builder's full financing package, not just the asking price.
Elberta is a different story. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 115 median days on market there, up 27 days from a year before. Supply rose to 5.6 months. Prices fell 13.9%. If you own in Elberta and are thinking about timing, that picture deserves a hard look.
These numbers cover the three months ending August 31, 2026. One street can read very differently from the whole ZIP code. A waterfront home on a canal in Terry Cove is not the same risk profile as an interior home in the same ZIP.
Your next step
(251) 500-2747Text me your address and I will send back where your home sits against what actually sold in your part of Baldwin County during the three months ending August 31, 2026. Takes a day, costs nothing.
Text me- Real Estate Data Aggregator numbers for ZIPs 36502, 36507, 36511, 36526, 36527, 36530, 36532, 36535, 36542, 36549, 36550, 36551, 36555, 36561, 36562, 36564, 36567 and 36574, the three months ending August 31, 2026, compared with the same months of 2025. Real Estate Data Aggregator last updated them on Oct 7, 2026.
- Federal Housing Finance Agency: FHFA House Price Index® Up 0.3 Percent in July; Up 2.6 Percent from Last Year | FHFA, Sep 29, 2026
- Redfin: U.S. Home Prices Ticked Up 0.25% in September, Oct 20, 2026
- Realtor.com: September 2026 Monthly Housing Trends: Price Cuts Hit 4-Year Highs as Mortgage Rates Top 7%, Sep 30, 2026
- Realtor.com: September 2026 Rental Report: Median Asking Rent Declines at the Slowest Pace in 3 Years, Oct 15, 2026
- CNBC: Trump's executive order targets mortgage insurance, refinance costs. What it means for borrowers, Oct 23, 2026
- No Real Estate Data Aggregator numbers for 36547, so this part is from websites alone.
- No Real Estate Data Aggregator numbers for 36559, so this part is from websites alone.