Nantucket closed 107 sales across all property types in the third quarter of 2026, totaling about $508.7 million. The median sale price was $3.65 million and the average reached $4.75 million, the highest third-quarter average the island has posted in five years, helped by a greater share of higher-priced sales. Homes sold at roughly 95% of their original asking price and took about 123 days on average. Fewer properties changed hands than in a very busy 2025, but prices stayed firm, and Town was the quarter's largest contributor to volume.
Here is how I read it:
Nantucket market snapshot
107Closed sales
Across all property types
$508.7MTotal volume
$3.65MMedian sale price
$4.75MAverage sale price
123Avg. days on market
94.6%Sale to original ask
The Q3 Shift
Fewer transactions, firm pricing.
From Q3 2025 to Q3 2026, transaction counts and total volume both came down from an exceptional year, while a greater share of higher-priced sales helped lift the average sale price. The change was a return to a more typical pace of sales, paired with firm pricing.
Closed sales
Fewer transactions
Total volume
Volume eased ~15%
Average Sale Price
Higher average
What changed from last year, and the year before
It helps to look back two years, because one year-over-year comparison can mislead you on an island this small, where a handful of transactions move the averages.
Q3 Market Metrics · Three-Year View
Metric | Q3 2024 | Q3 2025 | Q3 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
Closed sales | 94 | 130 | 107 |
Total volume | $418.2M | $598.7M | $508.7M |
Average sale price | $4.45M | $4.61M | $4.75M |
Every cell is a confirmed, published, all-property LINK figure (Q3 Quarterly Sales Summary). Median, days-on-market, and sale-to-ask are shown for Q3 2026 only in At a Glance, since LINK does not publish all-property versions of those for prior quarters.
Total sales volume by year
Nantucket Q3, all property types ($M, LINK)
The three-year arc is clear. Q3 2024 saw 94 sales at an average near $4.45 million. Q3 2025 was the busy one, 130 sales and nearly $599 million in volume, the high-water mark of the three years. Q3 2026 settled back to 107 sales, but the all-property average edged up again to $4.75 million, helped by a greater share of higher-priced sales. Within single- and multi-family homes, the median held close to where it was a year ago. The clearest change in 2026 was in how many homes sold, not in whether they sold well.
When transaction counts fall and prices stay firm, my read is that demand is healthy and supply is short, not that the market is weakening. That is an interpretation, not something the quarter's figures prove on their own — but buyers paid close to ask, about 95% of original asking, which is not the behavior I associate with a soft market.
The activity was not spread evenly. Town did the heavy lifting, with 25 single- and multi-family sales at a $5.0 million median and more than $135 million in volume. That one neighborhood accounted for a large share of the quarter's dollars and a meaningful part of why the island-wide figures landed where they did.
“Fewer sales with firm prices is not a weaker market. It tells me demand is still meeting a short supply of good property.”
Bernadette Meyer
Inventory
Supply built through the summer, then drew down.
Inventory followed its normal seasonal path this quarter. Listings built into midsummer, peaking near 178 at the end of July, then drew down to about 154 by the end of September. That drawdown is the usual seasonal mix: some listings sold, others were withdrawn or expired, and fewer new listings came on as the season wound down. New listings fell from 65 in August to 33 in September, while September alone saw 56 sales. Supply stayed below where it was a year ago at every point, which kept well-priced homes moving and gave sellers the upper hand on anything priced to the market. Heading into the fall, a smaller pool of listings should keep the better properties competitive.
Month-end inventory
Active listings, all property types (LINK)
Month-end inventory from LINK: 2026 July 178, August 171, September 154; 2025 July 223, August 211, September 180. New listings in 2026: July 57, August 65, September 33.
Where activity concentrated
Where the activity actually concentrated
Two views make the quarter concrete: what kinds of property sold, and at what prices.
Single- and multi-family homes remained the engine of the market, with land, condo, commercial, and co-op activity filling in around them. The year-over-year change is mostly in the smaller categories pulling back from 2025.
Closed sales by property type
Nantucket Q3, all property types (LINK)
Multi-Family
Closed sales by property type · Q3
Property Type | Q3 2024 | Q3 2025 | Q3 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
Single / Multi-Family | 71 | 91 | 87 |
Land | 11 | 20 | 10 |
Condo | 9 | 11 | 5 |
Commercial | 3 | 6 | 2 |
Co-op | 0 | 2 | 3 |
Total | 94 | 130 | 107 |
LINK reports Single Family and Multi-Family combined for prior years; the Q3 2026 split is Single Family 86, Multi-Family 1. Covenant/affordable and foreclosure recordings are excluded, consistent with LINK quarterly totals.
Closed sales by price range · Q3
Price Range | Sales |
|---|---|
Under $750K | 0 |
$750K – $1.5M | 6 |
$1.5M – $2.5M | 17 |
$2.5M – $4.5M | 47 |
$4.5M – $6.5M | 15 |
Over $6.5M | 22 |
Total | 107 |
From LINK's published Quarterly Comparison: Price Range for Q3 2026 (all property types). Totals sum to 107.
Q3 2026 closed sales by price range
All property types (LINK published bands)
$750K
$1.5M
$2.5M
$4.5M
$6.5M
$6.5M
The distribution shows how the quarter leaned toward higher-value property. The $2.5M–$4.5M band was the single largest at 47 sales, and 37 sales closed above $4.5 million, including 22 over $6.5 million. Only six sales closed under $1.5 million. That weighting toward the upper half of the market helped lift the quarter's median and average.
Market preparation
What this means if you're buying or selling
For sellers
This was a strong quarter to be a seller of a well-priced home. Properties traded at about 95% of original asking, which tells me buyers were willing to pay close to the number when the price was right. The caution is the same as always: price to the market, not above it. Homes still took an average of 123 days to sell, so an ambitious price can leave a listing sitting while the seller watches better-priced competition close.
For buyers
The quarter asked buyers to be decisive. With prices firm and inventory drawing down into the fall, there was little room to negotiate hard on well-priced listings. My advice holds: judge a property on location, condition, rental potential, and renovation feasibility, not on whether its price sits above or below an island-wide average that blends in-town estates with mid-island cottages. Those averages describe the market; they do not describe the house you are buying.
THE BROKER'S LENS
How Bernadette reads this market
Read price and count together
Sales fell while the all-property average held firm and edged up. On an island this small, a higher average can say as much about which homes sold as about values. Firm pricing on fewer transactions reads to me as demand meeting short supply, not a weakening market.
Watch where the dollars go
Town accounted for more than $135 million of the quarter's volume. One neighborhood can swing the island's averages, so always look under the headline number before reading it as a trend.
Mind the seasonal turn
Inventory peaked in midsummer and drew down into the fall. A smaller pool of listings keeps well-priced homes competitive as the year closes.
Evaluate the individual property
Location, condition, rental potential, and renovation feasibility describe your house. Island-wide averages that blend estates with cottages do not.
Key takeaway
Why Nantucket behaves this way
Much of this is structural, not just a passing cycle. Nantucket's scarcity is built into the island. It has a fixed footprint, more than half of it is conservation land, and the Historic District Commission governs what can be built or changed. Many of the best properties are held for generations and trade privately, off-market, before they are ever widely seen. Supply cannot expand quickly to meet demand, which is why prices here tend to hold their ground even when the number of sales settles back. No market is immune to cycles, and a single quarter is a small sample, but a quarter of fewer sales with firm prices, like the one we just had, is consistent with that supply constraint doing what it usually does.
Property fundamentals
The strongest properties keep moving when price, condition, and location are aligned.
Limited inventory
Inventory drew down into the fall and remains below year-ago levels, so scarcity is still the defining feature.
Pricing discipline
Buyers paid close to ask this quarter, but an overpriced listing will still sit.
Seller preparation
Sellers do best with thoughtful preparation, strong presentation, and a price rooted in real market behavior.
If you want to understand where a specific neighborhood or price range is heading, the quarterly numbers are a starting point. The real picture comes from what is moving off-market and how individual properties are being priced and received. That is the conversation I am always happy to have.
Nantucket Q3 2026 answers
Nantucket Q3 2026, answered
What was the median sale price on Nantucket in Q3 2026?
The median sale price across all property types was approximately $3.65 million, based on LINK closed sales data from July 1 through September 30, 2026.
How many properties sold on Nantucket in Q3 2026?
There were 107 closed sales across all property types in Q3 2026, down from 130 in the same quarter of 2025.
What happened to Nantucket sale prices in Q3 2026?
Average transaction prices increased in Q3 2026. The all-property average reached about $4.75 million, its highest third-quarter level in five years, and the median was about $3.65 million. Sales were weighted toward higher-priced properties, while the median for single- and multi-family homes stayed close to its year-earlier level. These figures describe the homes that sold rather than measuring the change in value of any individual home.
Why did total volume fall?
Because fewer properties sold. Total volume reflects both price and transaction count; with 107 sales versus 130 a year earlier, volume eased to about $508.7 million even though the average sale price was higher.
Which part of the island was strongest in Q3 2026?
Town was the quarter's largest contributor, with 25 single- and multi-family sales at a $5.0 million median and more than $135 million in volume, a large share of the island's activity and dollars.
Is it a good time to buy or sell on Nantucket?
It depends on the property and your goals. With homes selling near 95% of original ask and inventory drawing down into the fall, sellers of well-priced homes did well, and buyers needed to be decisive. The right timing is property-specific, which is where local guidance earns its keep.
Expert perspective
Discuss the Nantucket Market With Bernadette
For buyers and sellers, the quarterly numbers are only the starting point. The real insight comes from understanding how individual properties, neighborhoods, and off-market activity are being priced and received.
The figures in this report come from LINK, Nantucket's Multiple Listing Service. They reflect closed, arms-length sales recorded in the MLS and do not include off-market or privately transacted sales that never enter LINK. As a result, totals may be lower than market summaries drawn from broader Registry of Deeds data.
Source: LINK closed sales data, all property types, July 1–September 30 of each year. Sale-to-original-ask is the average of per-property ratios; days-on-market reflects records reporting it. Data reviewed October 2026; figures rounded for readability.
