September’s LINK sold file splits in two. The listed homes that found a buyer in their first thirty days closed at 99.3% of ask. The ones that waited past ninety days closed at 91.6%. The houses weren’t the difference. The number on day one was.
Thirty-seven listed homes, one dividing line
September was the biggest month of 2026 by a wide margin: 51 sales and $240.6 million across all property types, 47 of them homes. The figure everyone repeats from that month is the one on the Year-to-Date Sales Summary: the 39 publicly listed homes averaged 95.9% of their last asking price. Eight more sold privately.
That 95.9% gets quoted as the going discount on Nantucket. It isn’t. It is two very different markets averaged into one column, and the LINK sold export lets you pull them apart. I sorted every listed September home sale by how long it took, from the day it first appeared in LINK to the day it went under agreement. Thirty-seven have clean dates. Here is how they closed against ask:
- Under agreement within 30 days: ten homes, 99.3% of ask on average. Six of the ten sold at or above the asking price. None of them had cut.
- 31 to 90 days: seven homes, 97.5% of their last ask, two of them above it.
- 91 to 180 days: twelve homes, 91.6% of their last ask, which works out to 88.2% of the price they started at. None sold at ask. Half had already cut on the way there.
- More than six months: eight homes, 96.0% of their last ask. Four of the eight had cut at least once first.
The median listed home took 92 days to go under agreement. The ten that took a month or less included 8 Ash Street, full ask in four days, and 69 South Shore Road, 2.2% over ask in 26 days. They were not the cheapest houses in the file. They were the ones priced to where the market already was.
What the cut actually bought
Twelve of the 39 listed sellers reduced their price at least once in the run-up to September’s closings, by 8.3% on average. They closed at 95.7% of the reduced number. Against the price they started with, that is 87.7%, and the median one of them took 120 days to find its contract.
The twenty-five sellers who never cut closed at 95.8% of ask, in a median of 56 days, and eight of them got full price or better.
The same final ratio, two months faster, and twelve cents more on every original dollar. The price cut did not buy the cut sellers a better result. It bought back the buyers the first number had sent away, and it charged them the first number’s premium to do it.
The island is cutting less, not more
LINK’s Inventory Activity report for September counted 17 price changes across the whole market, down from 37 in August and 35 in September 2025: a 51% drop year over year. In the same month 36 purchase and sale agreements were signed and active inventory finished at 154, the lowest month-end count since May.
That is not a market where sellers are being forced down. It is a market where the sellers who priced correctly are getting their contracts, and the 17 are the ones who priced to the shelf instead of to the sales.
Where the numbers sit
The September median home sale was $3,999,000, up 4.5% from $3,825,000 a year earlier. The average home sale was $4,739,340, about $740,000 above the median, lifted by one $19.5 million private trade on Monomoy Road. Year to date through September 30, the median home sale is $3,700,000, up 12.1%, and the average home sale is $4,694,000, up 8.0%. Across all property types, land and commercial included, the median is $3,311,000, up 5.1%. Listed homes have captured 95.87% of ask for the year.
Myths I keep hearing about the Nantucket market
Myth: Price it high. You can always come down.
Fact: The twelve September sellers who came down closed at 87.7% of their original ask after a median 120 days; the ten homes under agreement inside thirty days closed at 99.3% with no cut at all. (Source: LINK Nantucket September 2026 sold export; Year-to-Date Sales Summary, run October 5, 2026.) What this means: the first number is the one buyers remember. I would rather spend a week getting it right than spend four months walking it back.
Myth: A house that has been sitting since spring is a bargain.
Fact: The eight listed homes that took more than six months to go under agreement still closed at 96.0% of their last ask; the discount, where there was one, had already been taken in a price cut. (Source: LINK Nantucket September 2026 sold export.) What this means: the stale listing with no cut is where I look for room. The one that has already cut is usually priced to go, and a lowball offer on it mostly wastes a week.
Myth: The average sale price tells you what a home here costs.
Fact: September’s average home sale was $4,739,340 against a median of $3,999,000; for the year, the average home is $4,694,000 and the median is $3,700,000. (Source: LINK Nantucket Market Snapshot, September 2026; Year-to-Date Sales Summary, run October 5, 2026.) What this means: a handful of waterfront trades pull the average around every month. If you are pricing a house, price it against the median and the last ninety days of comparable contracts, not the headline.
Myth: Nobody pays asking on Nantucket any more.
Fact: Nine of the 39 listed September home sales closed at or above ask, six of them inside thirty days, and listed homes have captured 95.87% of ask across 2026. (Source: LINK Nantucket Year-to-Date Sales Summary, run October 5, 2026; September 2026 sold export.) What this means: full price is still paid here, routinely, for the house that is priced to its comps and shows well in week one.
How I price a listing now
Price to the first thirty days, not to the neighbors’ asks. The comp set is the last ninety days of contracts. If you are a month in and the showings are not converting, that is the data talking; one meaningful adjustment beats three polite ones. And if you are buying, the listing past ninety days with no cut is where the negotiation lives. The one that has already cut is closing near its number, and September proved it 37 times over.
Questions I’m hearing about pricing a listing
Should I price my Nantucket home high and come down later?
September 2026 LINK data says no. The twelve listed sellers who cut price closed at 87.7% of their original ask after a median 120 days on the market; the ten homes that went under agreement within thirty days closed at 99.3% of ask with no reduction. Source: LINK Nantucket September 2026 sold export and the Year-to-Date Sales Summary run October 5, 2026.
Is a Nantucket listing that has been on the market for months a bargain?
Not usually. In September 2026 the eight listed homes that took more than six months to go under agreement still closed at 96.0% of their last asking price; where a discount existed, it had already been taken as a price cut. Source: LINK Nantucket September 2026 sold export.
Does the average sale price tell me what a Nantucket home costs?
No. The September 2026 average home sale was $4,739,340 against a median of $3,999,000; year to date the average home sale is $4,694,000 and the median is $3,700,000. A few large waterfront trades move the average every month. Source: LINK Nantucket Market Snapshot, September 2026, and the Year-to-Date Sales Summary run October 5, 2026.
Does anyone still pay asking price on Nantucket?
Yes. Nine of the 39 publicly listed September 2026 home sales closed at or above asking price, six of them within thirty days of listing, and listed homes have captured 95.87% of ask across 2026. Source: LINK Nantucket Year-to-Date Sales Summary run October 5, 2026, and the September 2026 sold export.