💰 New Listings Move Fastest in the Middle
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Fifteen houses came on the market in Marion in the last two weeks. Here is what arrived — and one thing about the list that is worth more than any single listing on it.
The Gap in the Middle
Sort the fifteen by price and a hole opens up. Nothing new arrived between $185,000 and $269,900. One listing lands at $185,000, and the next one up is $269,900 — an $84,900 step with nothing in it.
That matters because of where the hole is. On Monday we worked out that a $200,000 budget in Marion reaches only about a third of what is for sale — the thinnest position of any of the nine towns we track. This fortnight, new supply added nothing to that third.
For scale: of the 94 active houses with a published day count, 16 are priced inside that step, from $188,900 to $249,900. So the band is not empty. It just did not get restocked this time around.
⚠️ Fifteen Houses Is Two Weeks, Not a Trend
One new listing next Tuesday closes this gap. We are telling you what arrived in a 14-day window, not making a claim about where Marion is heading. If you see this same hole three weeks running, that is a pattern. Right now it is a fortnight.
What Did Arrive
The fifteen split cleanly, and the split is by age as much as by price. The five that came on under $150,000 have a median build year of 1932. The ten at $185,000 and up have a median build year of 1997. In Marion this month, cheap and old are arriving together.
🏠 3204 Sunset Ter — $185,000
3 bed, 2 bath, 1,608 sq ft, built 1966, about $115 per square foot. Listed 4 days.
The listing that sits right at the bottom edge of the gap, and the one we would watch. It is the only new arrival anywhere near the range where most Marion buyers are actually shopping.
🏠 1804 Julianne Dr — $299,900
5 bed, 3.5 bath, 3,800 sq ft, built 1970, about $79 per square foot. Listed 5 days.
The most house per dollar in the new batch by a wide margin — roughly half the per-foot rate of the newer listings in its price range. A five-bedroom at under $300,000 is not a common arrival here.
🏠 1509 Chart Hills Dr — $495,000
4 bed, 3 bath, 2,624 sq ft, built 2007, about $189 per square foot. Listed 6 days.
The upper end of what came on, and priced like it — one of the newest structures in the batch, at the highest per-foot rate of the three.
Also new in the last two weeks: a $145,000 four-bedroom from 1932 on S Court St, an $80,000 two-bedroom on S Hill St with an unusual 3,850 square feet on the record, a $275,000 three-bedroom from 2005 on Followell, a $459,900 four-bedroom from 1996 on Reveille, and a $323,000 three-bedroom from 1978 on E Clark.
🔔 Want Marion’s New Listings As They Hit?
Tell us your range and we will send you what comes on in it — not a weekly digest, the actual new listings. If you are shopping between $185,000 and $270,000 in particular, being early is most of the job right now.
What We Are Not Telling You
Two things, both on purpose.
We are not calling any of these a bargain. A low price per square foot on a 1930s house is a statement about the house, not a discount on it. The $21-per-foot listing on S Hill St is the cheapest per foot on the board and almost certainly the most expensive to make livable.
And we are not reading anything into how long these have been listed. Four days on the market means four days. It does not mean the price is right, and a listing that disappears next week has not necessarily sold.
Everything For Sale in Marion Right Now
Live listings in the Marion area — newest first, the same feed our brokers work from.
📱 Got a Question About This Market? Text Greg.
Buying? Selling? Not sure where to start? Text Greg Holthaus directly — just tell him you saw his blog. He'll help you think through your decision, match you with the best broker for your situation, and point you in the right direction. He's open to a text any time.
Text Greg · 618.925.8654
Who is Greg Holthaus?
Greg Holthaus is the Owner and Designated Managing Broker of Southern Illinois Realty Experts, with 25+ years in Southern Illinois real estate and more than 10,000 transactions closed. He leads a full-service operation — home sales, mortgage, title, and property management under one roof — with offices in Marion, Herrin, and Carbondale. Meet Greg ›
About the numbers: Figures come from a pull of active local MLS listing data for ZIP 62959 on September 23, 2026, filtered to single-family houses — 100 houses out of 165 total listings; land and other property types are excluded throughout. “New” means a published day count of 14 or fewer as of that pull. Six of the 100 houses do not publish a day count and are excluded from day-count comparisons only, never from the listing totals, which is why the active-house comparison figure is 94 rather than 100. All prices are asking prices on homes currently for sale, not closed sales; price per square foot is calculated from listed price and published square footage. Fifteen new listings over fourteen days is a small sample — the $185,000–$269,900 gap describes what arrived in that window and nothing more; one new listing closes it. Time on market is not a price history, and a listing leaving the market is not evidence that it sold. Square footage is as published on the listing record and we have not verified it. Marion’s active-listing share figures referenced from our September 21 Market Monday were pulled September 21 and will drift. Listings are represented by various brokerages. Nothing here is an appraisal, a loan offer, or a rate quote. Southern Illinois Realty Experts is an Equal Housing Opportunity brokerage.