Rochester Fall Market Update 2026: More Choice, Slower Pace

The big picture: more choice, slower pace

Across southeast Minnesota, homes are still selling, but buyers have more to choose from and more time to decide. Per Southeast Minnesota REALTORS (September 2026):

• Closed sales: 487, up 7.3% from September 2025
• Median sold price: $289,900, down 3.3% year over year
• Homes for sale: 1,609, up 27.1%
• Months of supply: 3.6
• Days on market: 47, about three days slower than a year ago
• Percent of original list price received: 96.5%

Pending sales in the region were 418 in September, down 6.7% year over year. Pendings are contracts that haven't closed yet, so they are the best early signal of where closings are headed.

Olmsted County and Rochester

Closer to home, Olmsted County followed the same pattern. Per Southeast Minnesota REALTORS (September 2026), the county had 169 closings, a median sold price of $338,200 (down 3.4% year over year), 52 days on market (up from 40 a year earlier), and sellers received 96.7% of their original list price. Months of supply rose to 3.8.

Zoom out to the full year and the picture is steadier. Through September 2026, Olmsted's year-to-date median sold price was $360,000, up 2.9%, per the same report. In the city of Rochester, the year-to-date median was $355,000, up 1.5%, with 515 homes for sale in September, up 43.1% from a year earlier.

On the listing side, Realtor.com shows 881 active listings in the Rochester metro in September 2026, up 54.2% from September 2025, and 23.8% of those listings had a price reduction. In Olmsted County, the median asking price was $398,950.

That last number matters. In the same month, the median asking price on Olmsted listings (Realtor.com) was about $60,000 higher than the median price buyers actually paid (Southeast Minnesota REALTORS). The homes that sell are priced close to what buyers are paying, not to what the shelf is asking.

What's selling

• Kasson: 2.1 months of supply in September, the tightest in the area, with year-to-date closings up 40% (Southeast Minnesota REALTORS, September 2026). Dodge County sellers received 98.4% of original list price that month.
• Zumbrota: months of supply fell to 2.9, down 29.3% year over year, with year-to-date closings up 26.7% (Southeast Minnesota REALTORS, September 2026).
• Northwest Rochester (55901): the strongest of Rochester's four ZIP codes for contracts written relative to homes listed, with 80 pending against 201 active in September (Realtor.com, September 2026). Many of those sales followed a price reduction.

What's sitting

• Higher-priced homes in southwest Rochester (55902): a median asking price near $599,000 and 81 days on market in September (Realtor.com, September 2026), against 41 pendings on 148 active listings.
• Chatfield: 5.0 months of supply and year-to-date closings down 24.1% (Southeast Minnesota REALTORS, September 2026).
• Stewartville and Byron: 4.8 and 4.5 months of supply respectively (Southeast Minnesota REALTORS, September 2026). Byron's listings are being repriced, but its median asking price still sits well above its median sold price.

What this means if you're buying

You have more options and more room to breathe than you've had in a few years. With homes taking longer to sell and nearly a quarter of metro listings reduced, there is often room to negotiate on price, timing or repairs. Get your financing lined up first so you can act when the right house comes along, and look at how long a home has been listed before you write an offer. If you are relocating for a job at Mayo Clinic or one of the employers around it, more inventory means a better chance of finding the right fit before your start date.

What this means if you're selling

Price is doing almost all the work right now. Homes priced in line with recent sales are still selling, and in towns like Kasson sellers are getting close to full price. Homes priced to the high end of the shelf are the ones sitting and cutting. Before you list, look at what has actually closed near you, not just what's for sale. I covered the rest of the cold-weather playbook in Selling Your Rochester Home This Winter: What Actually Matters.

When I list a home, I pair a pricing plan built on closed sales with professional photography, video and drone footage, paid social advertising and the reach of the Engel & Völkers network, so the right buyers see it in its first weeks, when interest is highest.

Want the numbers for your neighborhood?

Market-wide figures only tell part of the story. If you want to know what your home would sell for, or what's realistic in the area you're shopping, call or text me at (507) 254-0275. Thinking about selling? Start at Sell With Drew.