More than a fifth of the homes for sale in September had a price cut.
Realtor.com’s September 2026 Monthly Housing Trends Report found that 20.8% of active listings had a price reduction. It’s the highest share Realtor.com has recorded for any September, and it’s the first time in 2026 that the national share of price cuts has topped last year’s pace.
No surprise, rising mortgage rates are a major cause. Rates hit 7% this month, and fewer buyers are signing contracts as they pull back.
Here’s where the cuts are happening and what they say about sellers and buyers as fall gets going.
Price Cuts Reach the Highest September Share on Record
September’s share of price-reduced listings is higher than it was at every point Realtor.com compared it to:
- Up 0.5 percentage points from August
- Up 0.9 percentage points from September 2025
- Up 3.4 percentage points from September 2019
- Up 0.6 percentage points from September 2022
List prices dropped compared to a year earlier for the 11th month in a row. Realtor.com tracks one more pricing measure, price per square foot, which adjusts for the size of the homes for sale and gives a cleaner read on pricing.
- Median list price: $419,250, down 1.2% from August and 1.4% from a year ago
- Median list price per square foot: $223, down 1.7% from a year ago
- Median days on market: 61, one day longer than August and one day shorter than a year ago
Sellers Stay on the Market and Lower Their Prices
Sellers have two main ways to react when a home isn’t selling. They can lower the price, or they can take the home off the market, which Realtor.com calls a delisting.
Last year brought a broad wave of delistings in late summer and early fall. Realtor.com found no sign of that kind of spike this year.
Realtor.com estimated that 5.6% of homes on the market were delisted in September, in line with a year ago. Price cuts have become the more visible move for sellers this fall.
Jake Krimmel, senior economist at Realtor.com, sees price cuts and delistings as two separate parts of what sellers are doing.
“Price cuts and delistings tell two different parts of the seller story. More owners are acknowledging that today’s buyers need a lower price, but they are still choosing to stay in the market rather than walk away. That is a healthier adjustment than a widespread retreat — although the next question is whether deeper or repeated reductions can bring buyers back and get more homes under contract.”
The West Leads the Rise in Price Cuts
For the first time in 2026, all four regions had a higher share of price-reduced listings than a year ago. Here’s how each region compared in September:
- West: 22.8%, up 1.8 percentage points
- South: 21.6%, up 0.5 points
- Midwest: 20.7%, up 1.5 points
- Northeast: 15.2%, up 1.2 points
In August, Realtor.com flagged the Midwest as a region to watch for softness. Krimmel said the West is the region that’s weakening this fall.
Among the 50 largest metros, price cuts were most common in these markets:
- Salt Lake City, UT: 33.6%
- Denver, CO: 32.1%
- Portland, OR: 31.6%
- Indianapolis, IN: 30.5%
- Phoenix, AZ: 29.0%
- Columbus, OH: 28.8%
- Tampa, FL.: 27.5%
- Dallas, TX: 27.5%
- Austin, TX: 27.3%
- Charlotte, NC: 26.2%
Price cuts were least common in these markets:
- New York, NY: 10.3%
- Hartford, CT: 12.6%
- Buffalo, NY: 12.9%
- San Francisco, CA: 13.4%
- Providence, RI: 14.2%
- Miami, FL: 14.9%
- Chicago, IL: 16.3%
- San Jose, CA: 16.4%
- Boston, MA: 16.6%
- Milwaukee, WI: 17.0%
Salt Lake City’s share jumped 6.9 percentage points from a year ago, the biggest increase among the 50 largest metros.
Other large metros with big increases include:
- San Jose, CA: up 4.6 points
- Seattle, WA: up 4.4 points
- Minneapolis, MN: up 4.1 points
- Cincinnati, OH: up 2.9 points
- Detroit, MI: up 2.8 points
- Cleveland, OH: up 2.7 points
- Louisville, KY: up 2.5 points
Across the 50 largest metros, 36 had a higher share of price cuts than a year ago. In August, that count was 27.
Krimmel said buyers’ growing negotiating power looks different depending on the market.
“Buyers are gaining negotiating power, but that does not look the same everywhere. The West is seeing the sharpest rise in price cuts, while the Midwest has held up better on prices per square foot. Local supply, affordability, and rate sensitivity are increasingly determining how quickly each market adjusts.”
Higher Rates Keep Buyers from Signing Contracts
What sellers are doing traces back to buyers, who are dealing with higher borrowing costs.
Here’s how mortgage rates have moved, according to Krimmel:
- Up close to 40 basis points, or 0.4 percentage points, over the past four weeks
- More than 70 basis points, or 0.7 percentage points, above last year’s level
- Up more than a full percentage point since the Iran War began in late February
Buyers are pulling back in response. The number of homes under contract fell 4.1% from a year ago. It’s the second month in a row with an annual decline and the steepest annual drop since March 2025.
Krimmel pointed out one thing to keep in mind with the year-over-year numbers. Rates fell throughout September 2025 and have been rising this September, so this year’s slowdown is being measured against a stronger fall 2025.
More homes are sitting on the market as buyers slow down:
- Active listings: 1,161,615, up 5.4% from a year ago, the fastest annual growth in six months
- New listings: 394,830, down 0.7% from a year ago
- Inventory is 9.1% below typical pre-pandemic levels, the first time in the current recovery it’s been less than 10% below
Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, described what the numbers mean for buyers heading into fall.
“September’s housing data shows that buyers are gaining leverage, but higher mortgage rates are limiting how much of that opportunity they can use. Inventory is improving and more sellers are adjusting prices, yet the decline in pending sales makes clear that affordability remains a central constraint as the fall season gets underway. The coming weeks — including Realtor.com®’s September 27–October 3 Best Time to Buy window — can be an opportunity for well-prepared buyers, who can navigate today’s higher financing costs, to find more choices, less competition and greater room to negotiate.”
What Agents Can Watch in October
Asked what to monitor heading into October, Krimmel said to watch “how sellers respond to even tougher conditions.”
“This is the time of year when leverage usually shifts more toward buyers, but unexpectedly higher mortgage rates means even fewer buyers are showing up than normal this fall.
“It’s worth watching how deep the discounts get, whether some sellers resort to multiple cuts in quick succession, and if that actually results in more signed contracts or just leaves homes sitting longer.
“Also, pending sales and inventory growth have been diverging for a few months now, a sign of stagnation that will be worth following in October.”
Realtor.com’s October watch list includes one more item, which is whether more sellers start taking their homes off the market.
That will largely depend on how well you prepare them for future pricing conversations before their listing goes live.
