US home sellers’ price cuts hit a record pace in September 2026. The share of listings with a price reduction climbed to 20.8% — the highest September reading since 2018 and the highest for any month since October 2022 — as mortgage rates topping 7% keep buyers on the sidelines and homes pile up on the market, according to Realtor.com’s latest monthly housing trends report.
FAKTA: September 2026 Housing Snapshot
Listings with price cuts: 20.8% (+0.9 pp year over year) — highest September since 2018
Active inventory: up 5.4% year over year to over 1,161,000 homes; gap to pre-pandemic levels now 9.1%
Homes under contract: down 4.1% year over year — second consecutive monthly decline
30-year mortgage rate: 7.03% (Freddie Mac, week of 24 September); Mortgage News Daily put top-tier rates at 7.58% on 29 September
National Association of Realtors: chief economist Lawrence Yun says 7% may be the “new normal”
US Home Sellers’ Price Cuts Hit a Record Share
The surge in price cuts aligns with broader housing market shifts, including accelerating inventory growth and plunging pending sales. Nationally, the share of listings with price cuts exceeded 2025 levels for the first time in 2026, according to the Realtor.com September 2026 report. The trend is national in scope: all four regions and 36 of the 50 largest metros are now running above their year-ago price-cut shares.
“A lot of the people selling right now have to sell rather than simply choosing to sell — because of a job relocation, divorce, debt, or another life event — so they have to meet buyers where they are,” said Russell Faucette, principal broker and co-founder of Omada Real Estate in Salt Lake City.
“September’s housing data shows that buyers are gaining leverage, but higher mortgage rates are limiting how much of that opportunity they can use,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com. “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.”
Mortgage Rates Race Past 7.5%
Borrowing costs are the main force squeezing the market. Home mortgage rates have raced higher in a matter of days, blowing past 7.5% as a sharp bond-market selloff sends borrowing costs surging, Inman reported.
Mortgage News Daily put the average top-tier 30-year fixed mortgage rate at 7.58% on Tuesday, 29 September — its highest level since April 2024 — after the rate reached 7.5% on Monday. Less than a week earlier, Freddie Mac reported that the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage had crossed 7% for the first time since January 2025, coming in at 7.03% as of 24 September, up from 6.95% the previous week and 6.30% a year earlier. Mortgage rates have climbed alongside Treasury yields amid persistent inflation concerns, heavy federal borrowing and uncertainty surrounding the conflict with Iran.
Inventory Nears Pre-Pandemic Levels
While buyers are sidelined, homes are piling up. Active inventory grew 5.4% year over year to over 1,161,000 homes, narrowing the gap to typical pre-pandemic levels to 9.1% — the first time that gap has fallen below 10% in the current recovery. The stock of homes under contract declined 4.1% year over year, marking a second consecutive monthly decline and the steepest annual drop since March 2025.
Delistings, however, are little changed: nationally, under 6% of listings were pulled from the market in September, in line with last year, with no evidence of the late-summer delisting spike that higher rates and softer demand could otherwise trigger. Sellers are choosing to cut prices rather than walk away.
“Demand rarely picks up much this time of year regardless, but the rate environment and underlying geopolitical uncertainty made sure the housing market’s fall stall came early this year,” noted Realtor.com senior economist Jake Krimmel.
Australia’s Market Also Sliding
The cooling is not limited to the United States. Australian home prices fell for a sixth straight month in September, with national values down 1.1% from August and 5.2% below their peak, according to property data firm Cotality, as reported by Reuters. Sydney prices fell 1.4% and are now nearly 9% below their February peak, while sales for the past three months are down 19% from a year earlier. The Reserve Bank of Australia raised interest rates a fourth time on Tuesday to a 15-year high of 4.6% to fight stubborn inflation.
Read more: US housing market news on Watan News
Conclusion
September 2026 delivered a clear signal: sellers are capitulating on price at the fastest pace in years while buyers, squeezed by 7%-plus mortgage rates, wait on the sidelines. Inventory is the healthiest it has been in years, giving well-prepared buyers more choice and more room to negotiate — but until borrowing costs ease, the market’s fall stall is likely to linger.
