Nantucket's October: a bigger month than September, a $35 million sale, and three months of supply

LINK's October numbers are in. October tied September's fifty-one sales and beat its dollars by forty million — $280.3 million, the biggest month of 2026 — on a $35 million sale on the Cliff and a $4,747,500 median home, while the island's inventory fell for a third month running.

A bigger month than September, on the same fifty-one sales

October closed 51 sales for $280,290,000 — the largest monthly dollar total of the year, and the year's two biggest months are now the two most recent. September, the previous high, closed the same 51 sales for $240,613,500; October got $40 million further on 46 home sales, three lots and two commercial properties. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Year-to-Date Sales Summary and Sales History, October 2026.)

A year ago, October 2025 closed 65 sales for $372.4 million, the biggest month of that year. The count fell by fourteen and the money came in a quarter lighter — but the homes that traded this October were a great deal pricier on the median, $4,747,500 against $3,850,000, because twenty-one of the 46 closed at $5 million or more and one of them, 5 Grant Avenue, closed at $35,000,000. Across all property types, October's median sale was $4,400,000.

Fewer trades than the year before has been 2026's shape all along, and October kept to it. What changed is the money: the year's dollar volume is now $1.23 billion, 17% behind 2025's pace, after running 15% behind through September and 23% behind through June.

What actually sold

The top of the market carried the month. The headline trade was 5 Grant Avenue on the Cliff — $35,000,000, a private sale by LINK's record, and the largest sale on the island this year by ten million dollars, ahead of 36 Easton Street's $25,000,000 in July. 94 Main Street in Town followed at $15,250,000, one day after it listed at $15,500,000; 4 Black Walnut Lane in Sconset took its full $11,995,000 ask five days in; 67 Vestal Street in West of Town closed at $11,250,000; and 5 Pilgrim Road, also on the Cliff, at $10,750,000, another private sale. Five trades above $10 million, against two in September — and twenty-one homes at $5 million and above, against sixteen. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Sales History, October 2026.)

Town carried the depth again. Nine of the 46 home sales closed in and around downtown, at a $4,900,000 median — from $1,725,000 on Fayette Street to the Main Street sale, with 54 Fair Street taking its full $4,895,000 ask the day after it listed, 23 Pine Street its full $5,695,000, and 20 West Chester Street closing $30,000 over its $8,295,000 ask. Sconset and Mid Island had six sales apiece; Tom Nevers and Madaket three each, including 42 & 44 Sheep Pond Road at $7,500,000. The entry point of the month sat in Sconset: a 384-square-foot cottage on Park Lane at $1,195,000, its full ask, three days after it listed.

Land stayed quiet. Three lots traded for a combined $7.1 million — 57 Burnell Street in Sconset at $3,000,000, a private sale; 17 Cottage Avenue in Sconset at $2,440,000 against a $2,500,000 ask; and 10A Bayberry Lane in Mid Island at $1,650,000 — at a $2,440,000 median, 15.5% above last October's, and seven new land listings arrived during the month, against none in September. LINK puts land absorption at five months of inventory. Two commercial properties closed: 122 Pleasant Street in Town at $2,400,000 and Lot A at 1 Toombs Court in Mid Island at $1,500,000. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Sales History and Market Snapshot, October 2026.)

The full October table, address by address — all 51 closings, each with its last ask and sale-to-ask — is on the recent-sales page.

Listed homes closed at 96.7% of ask

Here is the number I'd frame from this report: the 39 homes that closed in October after a public listing sold for 96.7% of their last asking price, on average. LINK's figure for all 46 is 97.2%, but seven of those were private sales, which LINK records at their sale price, so they read 100% by construction. Among the listed sales, thirteen closed at or above ask — 38 Flintlock Road in Tom Nevers took $3,200,000 on a $2,899,000 ask ten days after it listed, 110.4%; 43 Autopscot Circle in Nashaquisset closed at 102.0%, 4 Saccacha Avenue in Cisco at 101.4% and 9 Mary Ann Drive in Mid Island at 101.3%; eight more took the number exactly — and eight of the thirteen went under agreement within a week of listing. Ten of the listed sellers cut their price at least once before selling, by 8.6% on average; measured against the original ask rather than the last one, the listed group captured 94.6%. The widest miss of the month was 4 Fawn Lane in Mid Island at 86.5% of a $3,699,000 last ask that had started at $4,299,000; among the large sales, 67 Vestal Street took 94.1% of its $11,950,000. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Sales History, October 2026.)

In the same 31 days, 26 listings changed price — up from September's 17, and 24% more than last October — and 24 came off the market, more than twice September's 11. Those facts are the same mechanism seen from both ends. This market pays promptly, and pays full price, for a house priced to what the island actually trades at; it sends everything else back for revision, or off the market entirely. The band-by-band version of that pattern is in the Q2 asking-versus-getting breakdown, and October sat right on it. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Inventory Activity, October 2026.)

The shelf thinned a third month

Inventory ended September at 154 and ended October at 143, 7% lower by LINK's count — the third straight monthly decline, and the lowest month-end count since April. The residential shelf moved harder than the total: 123 homes for sale at the end of September became 106 at the end of October. At October's sales pace, LINK puts residential absorption at three months of inventory, down from five in September and eleven in July. A year ago the island ended October with 145 listings; after a summer that ran well ahead of 2025, the shelf is back to level. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Inventory Activity and Market Snapshot, October 2026.)

Three details inside that number:

• New listings came on priced under the sales, not just under the shelf. Thirty-four new listings arrived in October — one more than September, and 42% more than a year ago. The 25 residential ones came on at a median ask of $3,995,000: three-quarters of a million under the month's $4,747,500 median sale, and $2 million under the $5,995,000 median of what was already for sale. That is the third month running that new sellers priced under the standing inventory.
• The pipeline thinned with the shelf. Twenty purchase-and-sale agreements were signed in October, against 36 in September and 30 a year ago, and accepted offers to purchase slipped to two from four. Fifty-one listings moved to sold status in the month. Fewer contracts in October means a quieter December on the closing side; it does not mean fewer buyers — it means fewer houses for them to sign for.
• More sellers chose the exit. Twenty-four listings came off the market in October, up from 11 in September, and 26 changed price, up from 17. The sellers still on the shelf in November have, for the most part, either repriced or decided to hold their number through the winter.

Three months is a real number and worth knowing — with the standing caveat that it's computed from a single month's pace, in a market where the biggest month of the year just happened.

Where October's home sales landed

The island-wide median tells you less than where the individual sales actually fell. Thirteen of the 46 homes closed under $3 million; twelve closed between $3 million and $5 million; sixteen between $5 million and $10 million; five cleared $10 million.

The year to date

Through October, Nantucket has recorded 269 sales for $1.23 billion, against 343 sales for $1.49 billion in the same stretch of 2025 — count down 22%, dollars down 17%. Homes are 230 of those sales, at a year-to-date median of $3,800,000, up 15.2% from $3,300,000 a year ago; a month ago that figure stood at $3,700,000, and 46 October closings at a $4,747,500 median moved it. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Year-to-Date Sales Summary by Month, run November 3, 2026.)

The year-to-date average home sale is $4,926,000, up 4.4%, and homes have captured 96.1% of asking across the year. Across all property types — land and commercial included — the year-to-date median is $3,450,000, up 9.5%: land has traded at a $1,579,000 median on 30 sales against 51 a year ago, and it is still the part of the market that is genuinely slower. Fewer trades, higher home prices, a thinner shelf: the second-quarter report called this a thin market rather than a falling one, and two record months in a row are the strongest evidence yet for that reading.

Myths I keep hearing about the Nantucket market

Myth: The market shuts down after Columbus Day.

Fact: October 2026 closed 51 sales for $280,290,000, the most money of any month this year, and five of them were above $10 million. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Year-to-Date Sales Summary and Sales History, October 2026.) What this means: the serious buyers are the ones still here in the fall, and the houses they want do not wait for spring. The island empties in October; the market does not.

Myth: Nantucket prices are coming down.

Fact: October's median home sale was $4,747,500 against $3,850,000 in October 2025, up 23.3%, and the year-to-date median home price is $3,800,000, up 15.2% from $3,300,000, with the year-to-date average home sale at $4,926,000, up 4.4%. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Year-to-Date Sales Summary by Month, run November 3, 2026.) What this means: the year is up on fewer sales, and for the second month running the month agrees with the year. I price to the year, not to a month — and October's median came from the mix at the top as much as from any one house.

Myth: There's plenty to choose from this winter.

Fact: Active listings fell to 143 in October, the third straight monthly decline and the lowest month-end count since April; the residential shelf fell from 123 homes to 106, and residential absorption dropped from five months to three. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Inventory Activity and Market Snapshot, October 2026.) What this means: the widest selection of the year was July. A buyer waiting for the winter shelf to fill is choosing from less each month — and what is left is asking a $5,995,000 median.

Myth: Everything on Nantucket sells at full ask.

Fact: Twenty-six of October's 39 publicly listed home sales closed below their asking price, at 96.7% of ask across the group; ten had cut their price at least once first, by 8.6% on average, and 4 Fawn Lane closed at 86.5% of its last ask. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Sales History, October 2026.) What this means: the thirteen that got full ask or better earned it by pricing to the evidence — eight of them were under agreement within a week. The house priced to hope negotiates in public, one cut at a time. Decide which one you are going to be before you list.

What I do with this

With sellers, the October report is the pricing conversation in one page. A full-ask sale inside a week, which eight listed houses got in October, belongs only to houses priced to this month's market; the 26 price changes and the 24 withdrawals are what the alternative costs. If you're thinking about listing this winter or holding for spring, we price to the buyers who closed 51 sales in October, not to the inventory asking $6 million, and the valuation is where that starts.

With buyers, the leverage keeps shifting: fewer homes on the shelf, three months of supply instead of eleven, and the new arrivals priced three-quarters of a million under what actually sold. The accurately priced house still commands full ask — eight listed houses got it inside a week — so the opportunity isn't lowballing the fresh listing. It's the house that has been sitting since the summer and is now repricing toward the number the market already named. I keep a running list of those, and it's the first thing we'd walk through together.

Questions I'm hearing about the October numbers

How many properties sold on Nantucket in October 2026?
Fifty-one — 46 homes, three lots and two commercial properties — for $280,290,000, the biggest month of 2026 by dollar volume and $40 million ahead of September on the same count. The median home sale was $4,747,500, and homes closed at 97.2% of their last asking price by LINK's count. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Sales History and Year-to-Date Sales Summary, October 2026.)

What was the biggest sale of the month?
5 Grant Avenue on the Cliff at $35,000,000, a private sale by LINK's record and the largest sale of 2026 by ten million dollars, ahead of 36 Easton Street's $25,000,000 in July. 94 Main Street in Town followed at $15,250,000, one day after it listed at $15,500,000, and three more homes cleared $10 million. The biggest land trade was 57 Burnell Street in Sconset at $3,000,000. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Sales History, October 2026.)

Is Nantucket inventory still falling?
Yes. Active listings fell to 143 during October — 7% below September, the third straight monthly decline, and the lowest month-end count since April — and the residential shelf dropped from 123 homes to 106, taking residential absorption from five months to three. Thirty-four new listings arrived, 42% more than last October, and the 25 residential ones came on at a $3,995,000 median ask, well below the $5,995,000 median of the standing inventory. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Inventory Activity and Market Snapshot, October 2026.)

Are Nantucket home prices up in 2026?
Yes, on the month and on the year. October's median home sale of $4,747,500 was 23.3% above October 2025's $3,850,000, and the year-to-date median home sale is $3,800,000 through October, up 15.2% from $3,300,000 a year ago, with the average home sale at $4,926,000, up 4.4%. Across all property types the year-to-date median is $3,450,000, up 9.5%. A single month's median moves with the mix of what closes — twenty-one of October's 46 home sales were $5 million or more — so read the year as the trend and the month as the texture. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Year-to-Date Sales Summary by Month, run November 3, 2026.)

The one-line version

October was 2026's biggest month by forty million dollars on the same fifty-one sales as September, its publicly listed homes closed at 96.7% of ask, a Cliff house sold for $35 million, and the island's inventory fell for a third month to three months of supply — with the new listings priced under what sold.

If you want to know where your house — or the one you've been watching — sits in that picture, I'm glad to run the numbers and walk you through it. No pressure, no obligation.

sean@thekalmanco.com