Realtor.com says the week of September 27 through October 3 is the best week to buy a home in 2026. Median listing prices that week are running 3.5% below the summer peak of $416,000, which works out to roughly $14,000 in savings for a typical buyer. That is a real number, not a marketing line. Inventory is sitting 31.9% above where it started the year and 13.3% above the weekly average, and buyer demand is running 30.1% below its annual peak. That is what a buyer’s market looks like when you read the data instead of the mood.