• Why the Best Week to Buy a Home in 2026 Is Coming Up in Minneapolis/St. Paul area

Realtor.com just named September 27 through October 3 the best week to buy a home in 2026.

Nationally, home buyers shopping that week could see up to 31.9% more listings than they saw back in January, plus something close to $14,000 in savings on a median-priced home compared to summer prices.

The report breaks down exactly why this window works in buyers’ favor, and where it falls in markets across the country. I want to walk you through what Realtor.com found, what it means for Minneapolis/St. Paul/ Bloomington specifically, and how to use this window instead of just watching it go by.

What Realtor.com’s Best Week to Buy Report Found

Realtor.com economists looked at eight years of data, from 2018 through 2025 (skipping 2020 since the pandemic threw off normal patterns). They scored every week of the year on six things that matter to buyers, then ranked each week by how all six added up together.

The six things they measured:

Active listings (total number of homes for sale)
New listings hitting the market
Listing prices
How long homes sit before selling
Buyer competition, measured by how many people are viewing each listing
How often sellers cut their price

The week that scored highest of all six became the Best Week. This year, September 27 through October 3, and it arrived earlier than it has in the past two years.

Here’s what that week looks like nationally:

13.3% more active listings than a typical week, and 31.9% more than you’d have seen at the start of the year
Buyer competition was down 30.1% from its peak point in the year
Homes sitting on the market for about 64 days, roughly two weeks longer than the fastest-moving point of the year
Listing prices are about 3.5% below their seasonal high, which works out to be around $14,000 on a $416,000 home
5.7% of homes see a price cut, one of the best weeks all year for that
20% more new listings hitting the market than at the start of the year

Why This Fall Favors Buyers

2026 started out on solid footing for buyers. Higher mortgage rates through the summer slowed things down, and that cooling helped set up the conditions behind this fall’s window.

Listings have kept growing compared to last year, even though inventory nationally is still lower than it was before the pandemic. Buyer demand has softened too, which gives shoppers more room to look around without racing against a crowd.

When Is the Best Week to Buy in Minneapolis/St. Paul/Bloomington

The national date doesn’t apply everywhere. Realtor.com ranked the Best Week separately for the 50 largest metros, and the results spread from early September all the way to the end of November.

In the 14 metros where the local Best Week lines up with the national one, buyers are seeing:

About 17.6% more listings than a typical week
Competition was down 36.1% from its peak
Close to two extra weeks on the market
Prices running 5.7% below their high point

New York and Milwaukee hit their Best Week the earliest, both in early September. Miami and Tampa hit theirs the latest, in late November.

42 of the 50 largest metros fall within a month of the national date, so most buyers around the country are looking at a similar stretch of fall. Our market falls in the same time as the majority.

Here’s what I’m seeing for the Twin Cities:

Best week to buy: September 27^th-October 3rd
About 25.5% more listings than a typical week
Competition went down 35.7% from its peak (counted by views per property)
Close to 12 extra days on the market
Median listing prices running 8% below their high point
2.2% more price reductions than average

How to Use This Window

This is a stretch of the year when conditions tend to favor buyers. Treat it as a planning window, not a single deadline.

Hannah Jones, senior economist at Realtor.com, put it this way:

“Buyers should use this window strategically rather than treating one week as a deadline. Shopping earlier in the fall may provide the broadest selection of fresh listings, while waiting later in the season may bring additional price flexibility.

“The right choice depends on a buyer’s budget, timeline and local market, but preparation, including understanding a realistic monthly payment and getting pre-approved, will be especially valuable this fall.”

If you want the widest selection, shop earlier in the fall. If you’d rather have more room to negotiate, waiting closer to the holidays tends to help.

Either way, knowing your numbers before you start touring homes puts you in a stronger position.