- by Cole Gargaro
Fall Is the Best Time of Year to Buy - and Now Realtor.com Agrees
Anthony Lamacchia has been saying it for nearly a decade and a half: if you want the upper hand as a buyer, buy in the fall. Realtor.com Research‘s newly released report backs that up, pinpointing September 27th through October 3rd, 2026 as the single best week of this year to buy a home nationally.
Why that particular week? According to the report:
“Nationally, the week of September 27 – October 3, 2026 is projected to be the best time to buy a home. Historically, this week offers the most favorable balance of market conditions for buyers. Inventory tends to be elevated, prices typically dip below their seasonal peak, buyer competition slows, and the overall pace of the market becomes more manageable.”
— The Best Time To Buy a Home Is the Week of Sept. 27 – Oct. 3, Realtor.com
The numbers behind that statement are worth a look. Realtor.com projects active listings will run about 31.9% higher than where they started the year, buyer competition roughly 30.1% below its annual peak, and asking prices around 3.5% below their seasonal high. Homes are also sitting on the market longer during this stretch, a sign of exactly the kind of breathing room buyers have been missing for the past few years.
How this benefits buyers:
- More inventory in the fall means more homes to choose from, with far less competition than you’ll see in spring and summer.
- Homes still on the market from summer often come with sellers who are motivated to make a deal.
- A bigger selection gives buyers real negotiating power on price, closing costs, and repairs.
Here’s what’s really happening:
By fall, homes that have lingered on the market for a few weeks aren’t lingering because something’s wrong with them. Most of the time, it’s simply that other buyers have already found their homes or stepped back from the search for the season, which means less competition and more room to negotiate for the buyers still in the game. As we’ve said before, there’s often nothing wrong with that house, it’s just waiting for the right buyer, at the right time, to notice it.
Also possible is that the home was listed at a price that was too high for the market climate at the time. Often, sellers make the mistake of using personal reasons to price a home, using what they would like to have for their next move, to determine the price, or use the sale price of a home in their neighborhood from earlier in the year when inventory was lower. Usually, the fix here for that seller is a price adjustment, and we see and uptick of those in the fall as well which often bodes very well for the discerning buyer.
You can listen to Anthony in the video explaining this by clicking here or on the image above.
Buyers, this is the moment to feel good about your search. Yes, rates ticked up slightly this past week. But ask yourself which is the better trade-off: a marginally higher rate now, or heading into spring to compete with a flood of buyers in a bidding war over a shrinking pool of homes?
If you’ve been waiting for the right window to buy, this is it. Reach out to a Lamacchia Realty REALTOR® to start planning your move and to take advantage of this timing!