Deals Are Taking Nearly Three Months to Close This Fall — Here's Why That Changes Your Pricing Strategy

If your home has been under contract for a while and closing feels like it's taking forever, you're not imagining it. Current MLS data shows the average pending sale is now taking around 89 days to reach closing — roughly three months from accepted offer to keys changing hands. That's a meaningfully slower pace than the market saw earlier this year, and it's a signal worth paying attention to if you're getting ready to list.

Here's the detail that matters most: pending days on market are now running about a third higher than sold days on market. In plain terms, that gap means the market cooled over the course of the summer rather than accelerating into it. Homes aren't falling apart or getting stuck — deals are simply taking longer to assemble, from inspection negotiations to appraisal timelines to lender processing.

Why This Raises the Stakes on Your List Price

When deals take longer to close, sellers have less room to recover from an early pricing misstep. A home listed too high in a market with a faster pace might still find a buyer within a few weeks who's willing to negotiate down. In a market where the whole process already stretches toward three months, an overpriced listing risks sitting through multiple price cuts, each one signaling to buyers that something might be wrong — even when the only issue was the original number.



• Average pending-to-close timeline: approximately 89 days, or roughly three months
• Pending days on market running about a third higher than sold days on market — a sign of a cooling pace since spring
• Regional median sales price: $350,000, up 2.3% year over year
• 2.4 months of regional supply — still a seller's market, but a slower-moving one than earlier this year

Price It Right the First Time, Not in Stages

The instinct in a slower market is often to list a little high and leave room to negotiate down. The data suggests the opposite approach works better right now: price at or slightly below the going per-square-foot rate for your specific neighborhood, deliberately, rather than starting high and chasing the market down through a series of price cuts. A home that's priced accurately from day one typically closes faster and for a better net number than one that spends its first month testing the market's patience.

Bottom Line

Closings are taking nearly three months this fall, and pending timelines are stretching relative to sold timelines. That makes getting your list price right on day one more valuable than it's been in months — a price cut later costs more than accuracy now.

Margaret Lipp | REMAX Premier Choice

Serving Upper Arlington, Dublin, Worthington, Clintonville, Hilliard, Powell, Grandview, and all Central Ohio communities

Source: Columbus REALTORS® Central Ohio Housing Report, July 2026 (most recent available; the August 2026 report has not yet published), based on data from the Columbus & Central Ohio Regional MLS. Additional market timing data from the Columbus Ohio Real Estate Market Report (live MLS data). Sale figures for the luxury spotlight from Columbus Monthly, based on county auditor records for Franklin, Delaware, Licking, and Union counties. Market data is a snapshot in time and subject to change.