Realtor.com Says the Best Week of 2026 to Buy a Home Starts Sunday. In Chicago, It Could Be a Great Week to Sell, Too.

Mark your calendar: Sunday, Sept. 27 through Saturday, Oct. 3.

Realtor.com just named that the best week of the year to buy a home. Not just nationally, either. The Chicago metro lines up with the exact same week.

Fall officially starts this week, so the timing feels right. But there's a twist most of the headlines skipped: Chicago isn't following the national script this year. Homes for sale are going down here while they go up almost everywhere else.

That means buyers and sellers each have a reason to pay attention. Here's the plain-English version for both.

What Realtor.com actually found

Realtor.com looked at six things that rise and fall with the seasons: how many homes are for sale, how many new ones hit the market, listing prices, how long homes sit, how many buyers are looking, and how many sellers cut their price. Then it scored every week of the year. The week of Sept. 27 came out on top.

Here's what that week has typically looked like in the Chicago metro:

Three things to know about this list:

• It's based on patterns from 2018 to 2025 (skipping 2020). It's what usually happens, not a promise for this year.
• It doesn't include mortgage rates, because rates don't follow the seasons.
• Realtor.com's own economist says to treat it as a window, not a deadline. Earlier in fall tends to mean more choices. Later tends to mean more price flexibility.

The twist: Chicago is doing its own thing

Here's how the Chicago metro compared with the rest of the country in Realtor.com's August report:

A few things jump out:

• Chicago had the second-biggest drop in new listings of the 50 largest metros. Only Oklahoma City fell more.
• The rest of the Midwest went the other way. Eight of the other nine big Midwest metros in the report saw homes for sale jump by double digits. Chicago dropped.
• Price per square foot rose 3.6%, the third-biggest gain in the country's 50 largest metros.

Closed-sale data from Redfin tells the same story. In August, more than 43% of Cook County homes sold above asking, compared with about 24% nationally. Pending sales in Cook County rose 2.2% from a year earlier, while they fell 1.3% nationwide.

In plain terms: the fall slowdown is real, but it's happening on top of a tight market. In Chicago, the "best week to buy" isn't a clearance rack. It's more like a shorter line at Portillo's.

Selling? Why this could be a good week to list

• Less competition from other sellers. With new listings down 7.5% from last year, your home has fewer look-alikes competing for the same buyers.
• Buyers are still showing up. Cook County pending sales rose in August, even as they fell nationally.
• Sellers here aren't being forced to cut. Only 14.6% of Chicago-area listings had a price cut in August, one of the lowest shares among the 50 largest metros.
• Prices were still climbing. DePaul's Institute for Housing Studies forecast earlier this summer that September home prices would come in more than 8% above a year earlier.

The honest case for waiting until spring

Buyer traffic in this late-September window is typically about a third lower than the year's busiest stretch. Spring usually brings more shoppers, and listing prices usually peak then. If mortgage rates ease over the winter, more buyers could come back. The flip side: spring also brings more competing sellers. There's no wrong answer, just a tradeoff.

One tip either way: price it right from day one. When so few Chicago listings are cutting their price, a price cut stands out, and not in a good way.

Buying? It's still a good week, just not a fire sale

The seasonal dip is real, and it can help offset higher rates. Here's what it looks like on a typical Chicago-area home:

The fall math on a $395,000 home (20% down, principal and interest only):

• The rate climb: Freddie Mac's average 30-year rate hit 6.95% on Sept. 17, up from 6.26% a year ago. On this home, that adds about $144 a month.
• The fall discount: If you buy at the typical seasonal dip of 5.8% below peak, that's about $22,900 off the price and about $121 a month off the payment at 6.95%.
• Bottom line: Buying at the fall discount can cancel out most of what the higher rate added.

These are illustrations, not quotes. Your price, rate, taxes and insurance will be different.

Where the deals usually are this fall: homes that have sat 30 days or more, homes that already had a price cut, and homes back on the market after a deal fell through. Brand-new, well-priced listings can still draw multiple offers.

Keep an eye on rates. The Fed raised rates last week, and Freddie Mac's next weekly number comes out Thursday, Sept. 24. (If you missed it, here's what the Fed's hike does and doesn't change.)

The honest case for waiting

Rates could come down later, or they could keep climbing. Nobody knows. Prices may soften a bit more as the holidays get closer, but the selection usually shrinks too. If you find the right home this fall, waiting for a perfect rate is a gamble in both directions.

Your game plan for the best week

If you're buying

1. Get pre-approved this week, before Sunday. Sellers take pre-approved buyers more seriously.
2. Set alerts for price cuts and homes with 30+ days on market, not just new listings.
3. Plan your weekend. Sept. 27 is a Sunday, so the best week opens with open-house day.
4. Ask for each home's full history, including total time on the market and every price change.
5. Search more than one app, and have your agent search the MLS directly.

If you're selling

1. Get a pricing opinion based on this month's sales, not spring's.
2. Invest in presentation. Professional photos and a 3D tour matter more when buyers are picky.
3. Pick your timeline: list now into lighter competition, or plan a strong spring launch. Both can work.

For more on timing, see my earlier post: Half of Cook County homes sold above asking. Your window closes in about six weeks.

Where I fit in

If you're selling, you get full service without paying a premium for it: professional photography, 3D Matterport tours and full online marketing. My listing commission is 1.25%. On a $395,000 home, that's about $4,940.

• Zero Commission Clause: if you find your own buyer, you pay me nothing.
• Cancel anytime: no long lock-in if it isn't working for you.

If you're buying, I'll set up a live MLS search that flags price cuts and homes that have been sitting, pull the real numbers before you make an offer, and help you compare nearby towns.

Whether you're thinking about this week or next spring, I'll lay out your options with real numbers for your specific home or search. You decide.

Jason Rosenberg

The Rosenberg Group @ Infiniti Properties

Serving Chicago and the entire Chicagoland area

Call or text: 312.882.9797

https://www.jasonrosenbergrealestate.com/

Market figures are metro-wide or county-wide averages. Your neighborhood, price range and property type can look very different.

Sources

1. Realtor.com, "September 27th – October 3rd Marks the Best Time to Buy a Home in 2026," including the top-50 metro table and methodology (Sept. 14, 2026): prnewswire.com
2. Realtor.com, "Delistings Trend Below Last Year's Pace As Summer Comes to an End: August Housing Report," including the top-50 metro table (Sept. 2, 2026): prnewswire.com
3. WRE News, "Best Time to Buy a Home in 2026 Starts Sept. 27, Realtor.com Says" (September 2026): wrenews.com
4. Chicago Agent Magazine, "The last week of September is the best time to buy in Chicagoland" (Sept. 14, 2026): chicagoagentmagazine.com
5. Redfin, "Cook County, IL Housing Market Update: August 2026": redfin.com
6. Freddie Mac, Primary Mortgage Market Survey (Sept. 17, 2026): freddiemac.com
7. Illinois REALTORS, June 2026 housing report with DePaul Institute for Housing Studies forecast: illinoisrealtors.org