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Tracey De Simon
Coldwell Banker Realty
Market Update • • 12 min read

Is There Still Time to Buy or Sell in 2026? An Honest Q4 Check for Charlotte, St. Louis & Naples

The honest answer is yes: there is still time to buy, sell, or relocate in 2026, and the final quarter is shaping up to be the most interesting window of the year in all three of my markets. Charlotte finally has genuinely balanced conditions, St. Louis keeps climbing while inventory catches up, and Naples has shifted from a long correction into a firmer, two-sided market. Here is the current data, what it means for your plan, and exactly what I would do between now and New Year's Eve.

A quiet tree-lined suburban street in early autumn with homes and porches bathed in golden late-afternoon light, leaves beginning to turn amber and rust

Clients ask me this question every fall, and the answer is more interesting this year than it has been in a long time. For the first time since before the pandemic, all three of my markets are sitting at or near the same place: balanced. Not a frantic seller's market, not a cratering buyer's market, but a market where preparation and good negotiation actually decide the outcome. You can still be in a new home before the holidays, and you can still sell well this quarter. It just requires working with the market as it is, not as the 2021 headlines trained us to expect. Let me show you the numbers, then the playbook.

01 -- Where the Three Markets Actually Stand Right Now

Mortgage rates frame everything this quarter: the 30-year fixed averaged about 6.76 percent in Freddie Mac's survey for the week ending September 10, 2026, with some lenders crossing 7 percent. That single number explains why buyers have negotiating room and why sellers can no longer assume a bidding war. Rates are high, stable, and plan-able. The markets have quietly finished repricing around them, and the result is a far more honest set of negotiations in every metro.

Charlotte at a Glance
  • Median sales price: about $410,000, up 1.1% year over year (Canopy MLS, Charlotte region, July 2026); the city proper ran near $430,000 with days on market around 52.
  • Active inventory: roughly 13,600 homes for sale, up about 7% year over year, the most selection in years.
  • Months of supply: about 3.7, up from a year ago and right at the doorstep of the 6-month balanced benchmark.
  • Close to list: the typical seller closed around 96% of the original asking price, a number that rewards realistic pricing.
  • The takeaway: Charlotte buyers have genuine leverage, and sellers who price to closed sales, not wishes, are still getting homes sold.
Greater St. Louis at a Glance
  • Median sales price: about $340,000 for St. Louis City and County single-family homes, up 6.6% year over year; the wider metro sat near $310,000, up 3.7%.
  • Townhouses and condos: about $220,000, up 2.1%.
  • Active listings: roughly 5,850 single-family homes across City and County, up about 15% year over year, with the full metro near 9,900 listed.
  • Months of supply: about 3.5 in the City but only around 2.3 in the County and St. Charles County, a genuinely two-speed market.
  • The takeaway: still the value leader of my three markets, and still moving fast in the suburbs, but buyers with patience now have real choices.
Naples at a Glance
  • Median closed price: about $590,000 overall, up 2.6% year over year (NABOR, July 2026).
  • Single-family: about $745,000, up 12.9%; condos about $400,000, down 4.8%.
  • Active inventory: about 4,415 homes, down about 21% from a year ago as the seasonal buyers returned.
  • Months of supply: about 5.8, down from roughly 8.7 a year ago, sitting almost exactly on the balanced line.
  • The takeaway: the correction is over; the season is starting. Condos still give buyers leverage, single-family sellers are back in a firmer position, and the right time to move is before the snowbird rush, not after.

Put the three together and the picture is clean. Rates are the ceiling on how far prices can run, inventory is the floor under buyer leverage, and all three metros have found their equilibrium within those rails. That is the best possible environment for the prepared, and a frustrating one for the unprepared on either side of the table.

02 -- For Buyers: Why This Quarter Still Works

If you have been waiting for a sign to buy, this is about as clear a one as twenty years in the business has shown me. The typical Charlotte seller closes at 96 percent of asking, which means the price you see is genuinely negotiable. Sellers who listed over the summer and missed the spring rush are motivated. New construction builders are still competing with rate buydowns and closing cost incentives. And the buyers who freeze on the news are not in the room with you. Here is the sequence I would run this quarter.

First, get pre-approved this week, not next month. If you want to close before the end of the year, the calendar is the boss. A typical purchase runs 30 to 45 days from ratified contract to closing, and the holidays compress lender and title schedules in December. That means serious home shopping in early October, offers by mid-month, and a closing that lands comfortably before the lights go up. Every week of slippage pushes you into January, where the competition resets.

Second, make the seller's payment problem your negotiation lever. At 6.7 to 6.9 percent, a seller-paid rate buydown or closing cost credit is often worth more to you than a few thousand dollars off the price, and it frequently costs the seller about the same while protecting their recorded sale price. In Charlotte's balanced market, this is one of the first things I ask for. Ask for it, in writing, on every offer you write this quarter.

Third, shop where the leverage is deepest. In Charlotte that means townhomes, condos, and new construction in Steele Creek, the River District, and the northern suburbs. In St. Louis it means the City of St. Louis, where months of supply runs about a month higher than the County and prices run a hundred thousand below the metro median, and the inner-ring suburbs with new inventory. In Naples it means condos, where the median is down almost 5 percent on the year and sellers are the ones making the accommodations.

Fourth, do not wait for the January reset to feel safer. I hear the logic, and I will give you the counter: inventory rises every January as the new year's listings hit the market, prices get set higher on the strength of spring optimism, and the buyers who sat out the holidays all show up at once. You will have more choices, and more company. In a balanced market, that is a worse trade, not a better one. If the payment fits, the neighborhood fits, and the house fits, that is the right time, even if the calendar says October.

The Buyer's Q4 Checklist
  • Pre-approval in hand this week, with a lender who can close in 30 to 45 days.
  • Ask for a float-down option when you lock, so a rate dip before closing still helps you.
  • Write the concession ask into every offer: buydown, closing credit, or points.
  • Tour by mid-October to keep a December closing realistic.
  • Compare three lenders' Loan Estimates, and negotiate the total cost, not just the rate.

03 -- For Sellers: Pricing into a Balanced Market

Sellers, I will give it to you straight, because you deserve better than a pep talk. The market that made any listing sell in nine days is not coming back this quarter. The 96 percent close-to-list figure in Charlotte is the reality you are pricing into, and many listings that launched high over the summer have already been reduced. That sounds grim until you notice what it means for you: an honest listing price, presented well, is rare in this market, and rare is what wins.

Price from closed sales, not from what your neighbor listed. The first two weeks of your listing set the entire tone. A home priced to the last ninety days of closed comps attracts real showings, real offers, and real leverage. An overpriced home that sits for thirty days then drops is almost always harder to sell, for less, than one priced right on day one. I have watched this pattern for two decades, and I have never once seen it reverse.

Plan to help the buyer's payment, not just the price. Every half point of rate costs a buyer roughly five percent of purchasing power, so a seller contribution toward a rate buydown or closing costs often unlocks the exact buyer who is ready to say yes. It is usually cheaper than a price cut and keeps your net within reach of the same number. In St. Louis, where well-priced homes still attract multiple offers and often close in about three weeks, a modest credit can create the competition that gets you a better price, not a worse one.

Should you wait for spring instead? Here is the honest math. January brings a flood of new inventory, heavier competition among sellers, and buyers who assume last fall's prices will still hold. If your home will show better in spring light and your timeline allows it, that is a legitimate strategy. But if you are selling because life changed, because you found your next home, or because carrying two payments is not sustainable, the thinner holiday field is your friend. In Naples specifically, the season is about to arrive: list and be dressed before the first big snowbird weekend of November, because the buyers are already booking their flights.

The Seller's Q4 Checklist
  • Price to closed comps from the last 90 days, first day, no exceptions.
  • Stage, declutter, and photograph like a listing in a photo-driven market, because buyers are comparing dozens of homes online.
  • Decide your concession budget up front: buydown, closing credit, or a rate points contribution.
  • List in October or early November if you want 2026 behind you, or commit to the January reset and price accordingly.
  • In Naples, be ready before Thanksgiving; the season's serious buyers arrive by then.

04 -- For Relocators: The Latest News in All Three Cities

Relocation news is the weather report for a moving decision, and this month has been a lively one in all three metros. Here is the freshest of it, and how each story should factor into your timeline.

Charlotte: the biggest September headline is a first for the city. On September 16, Charlotte landed the Women's Tennis Association as the fifth corporate headquarters of 2026, backed by the city, Mecklenburg County, the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance, and the visitors authority. It joins a year that already includes SMBC Group's second North American headquarters with roughly 2,000 jobs and PSA Airlines' headquarters move from Dayton to a site near the airport. Charlotte's 2025 was its best business-recruitment year in a decade. For a relocator, the honest translation is simple: this is a city that keeps adding jobs faster than it adds housing, which is why asking prices hold up even as inventory grows.

Greater St. Louis: the economic development drumbeat continues across the metro. Missouri's economic development department announced in early September that Jarrell Contracting is expanding in Hazelwood, and agtech company Pivot Bio is actively growing its Hazelwood manufacturing and innovation center with new jobs and a seven-figure-plus investment. Boeing's Defense, Space & Security headquarters, which made St. Louis official earlier this year, keeps hiring across the region, and the riverfront got back a piece of its history with the return of the Becky Thatcher riverboat after roughly four decades. For relocators, St. Louis remains the value play of my three markets, and the two-speed inventory picture means buyers in the City have room while County suburbs still move quickly.

Naples: the biggest story is in the air. The Naples Airport Authority approved its 2026-2030 strategic plan in late September and is negotiating the agreement with American Airlines to begin scheduled commercial service on December 2, 2026, the first scheduled flights out of Naples Airport since 2017, with a direct line to Charlotte. Farther north, Southwest Florida International Airport keeps expanding, with a $1.1 billion project adding a new Concourse E that can grow to 33 gates after a record-setting spring. On the jobs side, the medical-device maker Arthrex's Collier County expansion remains the anchor, part of a region that continues to diversify beyond seasonal tourism. If you have been weighing a two-metro life between Charlotte and Naples, December makes that decision dramatically easier.

The Relocator's Q4 Checklist
  • Decide your metro by early October if you want a 2026 closing, and get pre-approved in the destination state.
  • Model the full monthly cost, not just the mortgage: property taxes, insurance, HOA dues, and the income tax difference between your states.
  • Ask your employer about relocation help up front: rate buydowns, buyout programs, temporary housing, moving allowances.
  • Use the new Naples-to-Charlotte nonstop as a planning anchor for a two-metro family after December 2.
  • Work with a broker licensed in NC, MO, and FL so contract, tax, and timing questions get one answer instead of three.

05 -- The Bottom Line, in Plain English

Here is everything above in three sentences. Rates are high but stable in the high 6s, all three of my markets are genuinely balanced, and the buyers, sellers, and relocators who act with a plan between now and Thanksgiving will be negotiating from strength while everyone else waits for January. Charlotte rewards the realistic pricing and the prepared offer, St. Louis rewards patience in the City and speed in the suburbs, and Naples is telling you to move before the season's crowds do. There is still time to get it done in 2026, and the time to start is now.

This is the part of my job I love most: sitting down with a client, bringing the numbers to the table, and turning a scary question into a simple plan. I have advocated for buyers and sellers through twenty years of this business, through every kind of market, and I treat every client like family, because that is how this should feel. If you are wondering whether there is still time for your move, bring me the question. We will look at your timeline, run the actual numbers, and decide together, free, with no pressure and no obligation. That is what the next hour is for.

Still Time to Make Your Move in 2026?

Let us put your timeline and your numbers on the table together over a free consultation. Whether you are buying, selling, or relocating across state lines, you will leave with a clear plan for the quarter ahead and no pressure, just honest answers from a 20-year broker licensed in NC, MO, and FL.

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Sources

Market data and forecasts compiled from publicly available reports as of September 2026. Figures vary by source, neighborhood, and price band. This article is for general information only and is not legal, tax, or financial advice.