Austin – September 17, 2026 -- Home shoppers hoping to stretch their budget should mark September 27 through October 3 on their calendars, according to Realtor.com's 2026 Best Time to Buy Report.
During that week, buyers may find up to 31.9% more active listings than at the start of the year. Listing prices are projected to sit 3.5% below their seasonal peak, translating to roughly $14,000 in savings on a median-priced home of about $416,000.
Buyer competition drops nearly a third below its annual peak
Competition, measured by Realtor.com listing views per property, is historically 30.1% below its yearly high during this week and 14.4% below the average week. Homes are expected to sit on the market for about 64 days during the Best Week -- roughly 13 days longer than the year's fastest-selling stretch.
"Home shoppers heading into fall will find an opportunity that has been hard to come by in recent years: more choices and less urgency," said Hannah Jones, senior economist at Realtor.com. She noted that with mortgage rates still elevated above year-ago levels, this fall window gives buyers a way to offset financing costs through savings on price and stronger negotiating leverage.
Nearly 6% of listings see price cuts during the window
Historically, 5.7% of homes see price reductions during the Best Week, one of the strongest stretches of the year for seller markdowns. The week also typically brings 20% more new listings than the start of the year.
Active listings nationally have grown year over year but remain about 11% below pre-pandemic levels, a factor that has kept the market from fully shifting to a buyer's advantage everywhere.
Fourteen major metros share the same buyer-friendly week
The national Best Week matches the local best-buy window in 14 of the 50 largest U.S. metros, including Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Philadelphia and Riverside. In those markets, buyers historically see 17.6% more listings than a typical week, 36.1% less competition than the annual peak, about two extra weeks on market, and prices 5.7% below peak levels.
Timing shifts elsewhere: New York and Milwaukee post their earliest Best Weeks in early September, while Miami and Tampa see theirs latest, from November 29 to December 5. In total, 42 of the 50 largest metros have a Best Week within a month of the national date.
Realtor.com based the findings on six seasonal supply-and-demand metrics -- listing prices, inventory, new listings, time on market, buyer demand and price reductions -- tracked from 2018 to 2025, excluding 2020 due to pandemic-related anomalies.