Nantucket's September: the biggest month of 2026, and the shelf kept thinning

LINK's September numbers are in, and they settle the question of which month owned 2026. September closed 51 sales for $240.6 million — twenty more sales and $90 million more than August, the previous record — and the island's inventory fell for a second month running.

The biggest month of 2026, by ninety million

September closed 51 sales for $240,613,500 — the largest monthly total of the year by count and by dollar volume, and not by a little: August, the previous high, closed 31 sales for $151.0 million. It got there on 47 home sales, three lots and one commercial property. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Year-to-Date Sales Summary and Sales History, September 2026.)

A year ago, September 2025 closed 62 sales for $284.4 million. The count fell by eleven; the money came in only 15% lighter, because the homes that traded this September were pricier on the median — $3,999,000 against $3,825,000 — and because one of them, 69 Monomoy Road, closed at $19,500,000. Across all property types, September's median sale was $3,950,000.

Fewer trades than the year before has been 2026's shape all along, and September kept to it — eleven short of last September's count. What changed is the money: the year's dollar volume is now $951 million, 15% behind 2025's pace, after running 23% behind through June.

What actually sold

The top of the market showed up, and so did everything beneath it. The month's headline trade was 69 Monomoy Road on Monomoy — $19,500,000, a private sale by LINK's record, and the second-largest home sale of 2026 behind 36 Easton Street's $25,000,000 in July. 15 Deer Run Road in Hummock Pond followed at $12,000,000 against a $13,495,000 ask. Two trades above $10 million, against three in August — but sixteen homes at $5 million and above, against eleven, and the whole $5M–$10M band was busier than at any point this year. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Sales History, September 2026.)

Town carried the month. Thirteen of the 47 home sales closed in and around downtown, at a $6,245,000 median — from $1,700,000 on Atlantic Avenue to $9,375,000 on Gull Island Lane, with 8 Ash Street taking its full $9,100,000 ask four days after it listed, 4 Gay Street at $8,500,000, and 3 Pleasant Street closing $40,000 over its $7,200,000 ask. Tom Nevers and Sconset had four sales apiece; Madaket and Surfside three each, including 14 Field Avenue at a full-ask $6,995,000. The entry point of the month sat in Mid Island: a condominium on First Way at $800,000, a private sale.

Land was quiet, and entirely private. Three lots traded for a combined $7.4 million — 10 Tomahawk Road in Mid Island at $2,800,000, 128 Somerset Road in Miacomet at $2,795,000 and 123 Orange Street in Town at $1,837,500 — none of them publicly marketed, and no new land listing arrived during the month. LINK puts land absorption at four months of inventory. One commercial property closed: 6 Van Gilder Avenue, at $10,432,000, the island's largest commercial sale of 2026. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Sales History and Market Snapshot, September 2026.)

The full September 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 95.9% of ask

Here is the number I'd frame from this report: the 39 homes that closed in September after a public listing sold for 95.9% of their last asking price, on average. LINK's figure for all 47 is 96.6%, but eight of those were private sales, which LINK records at their sale price, so they read 100% by construction. Among the listed sales, nine closed at or above ask — 69 South Shore Road in Surfside at 102.2% and 3 Pleasant Street in Town at 100.6%, with seven more right at the number — and seven of the nine went under agreement within four weeks, four of them inside a week. Twelve of the listed sellers cut their price at least once before selling, by 8.3% on average; measured against the original ask rather than the last one, the listed group captured 94.8%. The widest miss of the month was 100 Baxter Road in Sconset at 61% of a $1,795,000 ask, and the widest among the large sales was 15 Deer Run Road at 88.9%. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Sales History, September 2026.)

In the same 30 days, 17 listings changed price — less than half of August's 37, and 51% fewer than last September — and 10 came off the market, down from 17. 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 September sat right on it. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Inventory Activity, September 2026.)

The shelf kept thinning

Inventory ended August at 171 and ended September at 154. August's decline was the first since February; September's confirms it was a turn and not a pause, and takes the island to its lowest month-end count since May. The residential shelf moved harder than the total: 135 homes for sale at the end of August became 123 at the end of September. At September's sales pace, LINK puts residential absorption at five months of inventory, down from seven in August and eleven in July. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Inventory Activity and Market Snapshot, September 2026.)

Three details inside that number:

• New listings came on priced to the sales, not to the shelf. Thirty-three new listings arrived in September — exactly as many as a year ago, and half of August's 65. The 31 residential ones came on at a median ask of $4,100,000, within $100,000 of the month's $3,999,000 median sale and $1.9 million under the $6,000,000 median of what was already for sale. That is the second month running that new sellers priced under the standing inventory.
• The pipeline held. Thirty-six purchase-and-sale agreements were signed in September, one more than August's 35. Accepted offers to purchase slipped to four from seven — the deals were converting, not stacking up — and 56 listings moved to sold status in the month, the most of any month this year.
• Fewer sellers chose the exit. Ten listings came off the market in September, down from 17 in August and 22 a year ago, and only 17 changed price. The sellers still on the shelf in October are, for the most part, the ones who have decided to hold their number through the fall.

Five 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 September's home sales landed

The island-wide median tells you less than where the individual sales actually fell. Fifteen of the 47 homes closed under $3 million; sixteen closed between $3 million and $5 million; two cleared $10 million.

The year to date

Through September, Nantucket has recorded 218 sales for $951.0 million, against 278 sales for $1.12 billion in the same stretch of 2025 — count down 22%, dollars down 15%. Homes are 184 of those sales, at a year-to-date median of $3,700,000, up 12.1% from $3,300,000 a year ago; a month ago that figure stood at $3,650,000, and 47 September closings at a $3,999,000 median moved it. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Year-to-Date Sales Summary by Month, run October 5, 2026.)

The year-to-date average home sale is $4,694,000, up 8.0%, and homes have captured 95.87% of asking across the year. Across all property types — land and commercial included — the year-to-date median is $3,311,000, up 5.1%, the first time this year that the all-types median has been ahead of 2025: land has traded at a $1,541,000 median on 27 sales against 45 a year ago, and it had been dragging the blended figure down. Fewer trades, higher home prices, a thinner shelf: the second-quarter report called this a thin market rather than a falling one, and September is the strongest evidence for that reading so far.

Myths I keep hearing about the Nantucket market

Myth: The market shuts down after Labor Day.

Fact: September 2026 closed 51 sales for $240,613,500, the most of any month this year by count and by dollars, and 36 purchase-and-sale agreements were signed during the month. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Year-to-Date Sales Summary and Inventory Activity, September 2026.) What this means: the deals that close in November are being written now. The island empties in September; the market does not.

Myth: Nantucket prices are coming down.

Fact: September's median home sale was $3,999,000 against $3,825,000 in September 2025, up 4.5%, and the year-to-date median home price is $3,700,000, up 12.1% from $3,300,000, with the year-to-date average home sale at $4,694,000, up 8.0%. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Year-to-Date Sales Summary by Month, run October 5, 2026.) What this means: the year is up on fewer sales, and for the first time since June the month agrees with the year. I price to the year, not to a month.

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

Fact: Active listings fell from 171 to 154 in September, the second straight monthly decline and the lowest month-end count since May; the residential shelf fell from 135 homes to 123, and residential absorption dropped from seven months to five. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Inventory Activity and Market Snapshot, September 2026.) What this means: the widest selection of the year was July. A buyer waiting for the fall shelf to fill is choosing from less each month — and what is left is asking a $6,000,000 median.

Myth: Everything on Nantucket sells at full ask.

Fact: Thirty of September's 39 publicly listed home sales closed below their asking price, at 95.9% of ask across the group; twelve had cut their price at least once first, by 8.3% on average, and 100 Baxter Road closed at 61% of its ask. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Sales History, September 2026.) What this means: the nine that did get full ask or better earned it by pricing to the evidence — seven of them were under agreement within four weeks. 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 September report is the pricing conversation in one page. A full-ask sale inside a month, which seven listed houses got in September, belongs only to houses priced to this month's market; the 17 price changes and the 10 withdrawals are what the alternative costs. If you're thinking about listing this fall or holding for spring, we price to the buyers who signed 36 agreements in September, 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, five months of supply instead of eleven, and the new arrivals priced within $100,000 of what actually sold. The accurately priced house still commands full ask — four 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 September numbers

How many properties sold on Nantucket in September 2026?
Fifty-one — 47 homes, three lots and one commercial property — for $240,613,500, the biggest month of 2026 by count and by dollar volume, and $90 million ahead of August. The median home sale was $3,999,000, and homes closed at 96.6% of their last asking price by LINK's count. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Sales History and Year-to-Date Sales Summary, September 2026.)

What was the biggest sale of the month?
69 Monomoy Road on Monomoy at $19,500,000, a private sale by LINK's record and the second-largest home sale of 2026 behind 36 Easton Street's $25,000,000 in July. 15 Deer Run Road in Hummock Pond followed at $12,000,000 against a $13,495,000 ask. The commercial property at 6 Van Gilder Avenue closed at $10,432,000, the year's largest commercial sale, and the biggest land trade was 10 Tomahawk Road in Mid Island at $2,800,000. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Sales History, September 2026.)

Is Nantucket inventory still falling?
Yes. Active listings fell from 171 to 154 during September — the second straight monthly decline, and the lowest month-end count since May — and the residential shelf dropped from 135 homes to 123, taking residential absorption from seven months to five. Thirty-three new listings arrived, the same number as last September, and the 31 residential ones came on at a $4,100,000 median ask, well below the $6,000,000 median of the standing inventory. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Inventory Activity and Market Snapshot, September 2026.)

Are Nantucket home prices up in 2026?
Yes, on the month and on the year. September's median home sale of $3,999,000 was 4.5% above September 2025's $3,825,000, and the year-to-date median home sale is $3,700,000 through September, up 12.1% from $3,300,000 a year ago, with the average home sale at $4,694,000, up 8.0%. Across all property types the year-to-date median is $3,311,000, up 5.1%. A single month's median moves with the mix of what closes, so read the year as the trend and the month as the texture. (Source: LINK Nantucket, Year-to-Date Sales Summary by Month, run October 5, 2026.)

The one-line version

September was 2026's biggest month by twenty sales and ninety million dollars, its publicly listed homes closed at 95.9% of ask, and the island's inventory fell for a second month to its lowest point since May — with the new listings priced to the sales, not to the shelf.

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