Schools are back in session and while meteorological summer has a few days left, in the real estate world, the fall market has begun. In real estate, it’s a commonly held idea that the spring and early summer months move the fastest, with many buyers wanting to be in new homes before the school year starts. Local professionals tell us whether those preconceived notions hold in the current market.
Local Realtor Scott Berg of Berg Properties likes to look at data to inform his work with buyers and sellers. “I’ve heard over the years that fall is supposed to be the time for buyers to get discounts, but what I’d experienced is that the good listings were still really competitive.”
This year, he said he had buyers asking him in June and July if the 2026 market was over and they should pause their home searches until 2027.
Berg dug into data for the last eight years of single-family home sales in Oak Park and found there really are no deals to be had in the fall, but that doesn’t mean that sellers aren’t out there. He shares his research here: https://oakparkexpert.com/oak-park/market-seasonality/
Outside of a blip during the Covid market of 2020, he says, “The data confirms that if you’re priced right, it’s going to sell. In most cases, it makes no sense to wait until spring to list your house.”
For his buyers who have been in the market with no success, Berg says he needs to temper any belief that there will be significantly less competition or that home pricing will fall. “The great houses are still going to sell, and they’ll sell pretty fast.”
Michael Nowicki of Ideal Location — Oak Park agrees with Berg but says he’s seen some slight changes as the weather cools down. In fall of 2025 for instance, he says he had two properties on the market that both needed a bit of work, but nothing that a normal buyer wouldn’t take on and do over time. Both homes were priced in the mid-to-low $500,000 range. He had over 46 showings, with no offers.
He doesn’t necessarily attribute those slow sales to the fall season, but he adds, “There is some nuance to the fall market. That said, I think if your house looks nice and is ready to go, it will sell with multiple offers.”
Monica Dalton of the Dalton Collective at Compass Real Estate says that over the past few months, the list-to-sales ratio in Oak Park has hovered at 105%. That might drop in the fall to 100% or maybe a bit over 100% but she notes, “You’re not going to get a great deal in the fall. Homes are going to sell at whatever the market will bear. If it’s priced competitively, at what similar homes have sold for, it will sell.”
Dalton does see a smaller pool of buyers and sellers in the fall market. For buyers who have been in a crowded pool, the field can thin out a bit. She says, “One benefit is that all buyers are not necessarily focused on buying in the fall. Their kids have begun a new school year, or they’ve re-signed a lease.”
Some sellers need to sell in the fall for various personal reasons, but if her sellers can choose a time to list, Dalton counsels them to spend the fall and holiday seasons readying their homes for the spring market.
“Pare down and get your house ready for a spring listing. You’ll have a whole new group of buyers entering the market plus buyers who lost out last year will be really motivated,” she says.
Berg says that while buyers should go in knowing they won’t be saving money in the fall market, sellers should know that they won’t necessarily lose out by listing a market-ready home in the fall.
If their home isn’t market ready, like Dalton, he says this season is the time for buyers to start prepping for a later listing.
With the disclaimer that the holidays are not a great time for listing a home, he notes that the “spring” market is really a misnomer. “With the warm weather we’ve had in January, the buyers are coming out early. If you’re a seller, get your house ready and be ready to jump on it when the weather turns.”
Nowicki says he’s seeing more buyers who are not guided by the seasons. This fall, he’s working with multiple clients who he says are not “school-oriented,” as well as those with no kids left in the house.
“If you’re trying to buy, it’s still unbelievably brutal out there,” he says.
According to Berg, the strategy for some sellers might change in the fall. Spring might have warranted an aggressive pricing strategy that would garner multiple bids, allowing sellers to choose the offer with the best terms — e.g. all cash or a waived appraisal. “That might not work in the fall,” he says, adding “Can you get five offers in one weekend?”
Dalton also says her strategy can differ depending on the season. In the spring, if a listing agent didn’t have a number of showings scheduled soon after listing, that might have been a sign that something was off with the home that needs to be addressed or that the pricing strategy needed to be reconsidered, and the agent would change course quickly. In the fall, agents might wait a bit longer before making a change to sales strategy.
Nowicki agrees that for sellers hitting the market in the fall, they should be prepared that the market might not be as fast as what they saw in the spring but says it’s still a strong market for the well-prepared seller.
All of the agents agree that buyers no longer are demotivated by the higher interest rates of the past five years. They say that life events such as marriage, additions to the family, a new job or retirement motivate people to enter the market.
Nowicki says for clients already in homes who want to make a change into another home, the timing can take a while if they can’t find a new home to move into. “Until that part evolves, it will still be one house for one house,” he says.
Dalton agrees and says that “In the end, inventory is not going to catch up with demand. At least for now.”