Last month I said that if the big August contracts held, the fall could look a lot different at the top. They held. 31 condos and town homes closed in September, one more than August, but about $17.5 million changed hands, roughly 70 percent more money on one more sale. Six of those 31 sold for a million or more, after none in August, and five of the six were at Bryant Row, a row of new town homes on Paul W Bryant Drive a few blocks from the stadium. The buyers came through three different brokerages (Harwood had two), so this wasn’t one buyer taking the whole row. Either way, one street having a big month isn’t the same thing as the whole luxury market having one. That’s also why the median jumped to $352,500. Nothing got repriced; more expensive units just happened to close. A typical entry-level resale still sold for about $227,500. The number I’d actually keep an eye on is 143. That’s how many condos were for sale on October 1, up 18 in a month.
31
Closed in September
$352,500
Median sale
$1,500,000
Largest sale, twice
143
For sale, October 1
What the headline says
$352,500
What an entry-level resale sold for
$227,500
Eight sales above $650,000 made up 56.9 percent of the month’s dollars, and five of them were at Bryant Row. That drags the county median up without a single unit being repriced. Six of the 31 sales were at Watercress, an apartment complex being sold off unit by unit, so I set those aside when I talk about resales. Do that and the typical entry-level resale was $227,500, basically flat with August’s $231,450. Anywhere you see “resale” below, it means everything except those six.
How long the listings would last at the current sales pace
Now the supply side
62 for sale, up from 47 a month ago, against about 256 sales a year. Still the tightest part of the market, but it loosened faster than any other price range this month, from about two months of supply to almost three. More than half of September’s new listings landed here.
22 for sale against about 86 sales a year. All eight September sales closed at full asking, and six more were under contract on October 1. This range had four closings in all of July. It’s had thirteen since August 1.
60 for sale against about 88 sales a year, about the same count as a month ago, because as fast as eight sold, thirteen new ones came on. It’s the only range where buyers have the upper hand, and it’s also where September’s money went.
Under 4 months of supply favors sellers, over 6 favors buyers. Based on 429 sales in the twelve months ending September 30, 2026 and the 143 condos for sale on October 1, 2026. MLS price ranges share their edges, so the three add up to slightly more than the total. Put together, the county is at 4.0 months, up from 3.4, which is right on the line between a seller’s market and a balanced one.
What this means for you
If you are buying
- You have more to choose from. Listings went from 125 to 143 in a month, with 49 new ones against 31 sales, almost all of it under $650,000. Last month I said October and November are usually when buyers set the pace. September leaned that way. One month is a lean, not a season.
- Under $350,000, more choice doesn’t mean more room to negotiate. In August, most entry-level resales (11 of 14) closed under asking. In September it flipped, and 7 of 10 closed at or above asking. Ten sales isn’t a rule, so pull the last three sales in the building you like before you decide what your offer looks like.
- Between $350,000 and $650,000, you finally have real comps, and they’re all full price. Eight sales, every one at asking, and the resales went under contract in about two weeks. Three of the eight were new town homes at Ivory Bluff that went under contract back in the spring, so the list is a little older than it looks. Still, thirteen sales since August 1 is plenty to price against, adjusted for building, floor and size.
- Above $650,000, read September as one address, not a whole tier. There’s still about eight months of supply up here, the most of any range. Five of the eight sales were the same product on the same street and sat seven months to a year before going under contract, and two of them closed at 97 percent of asking. Thirteen more listings came on in September. Ask for the full status history on the unit you’re looking at and judge it on its own record.
- If you’re investing, the Bryant Row buyers were buying time on market. Those town homes had sat since September 2025 before the offers came, and two closed at 97 percent of asking. The same setup still exists above $650,000: 60 for sale, 24 new listings in two months against 12 sales, and three new town homes on 14th Street that came off the market after five months and went right back on at the same price. Listings that have sat are where buyers get the best terms.
- Watercress, a 2017 apartment complex on 6th Avenue NE being sold off unit by unit, is the steadiest thing in the county. 23 units have closed since July 1, from about $275,000 to $468,000, and all but two got full asking or better. Four were for sale and three under contract on October 1. It’s the clearest read on what units bought to rent out are selling for here, but the building you’re looking at may be nothing like it.
If you are selling
- The middle of the market is pricing it right and getting paid for it. All eight sales between $350,000 and $650,000 closed at full asking, and the typical one went under contract in about eight days. Price where the last three sales in your building landed and buyers are meeting you there. Price above them and you’re one of 143, waiting.
- Pulling your listing and putting it right back up doesn’t erase the history. Six listings did it in September, same day and same price, including three town homes at The Row on Fourteenth after about five months each, and one has already been pulled again. All six that did it in August are still sitting a month later. I checked each one by MLS number on October 1. The one August relist that actually cut its price sold on September 28. Assume the buyer looking at your unit has already pulled the history, because they can.
- Under $350,000 you’ve got more competition. 62 for sale against 47 a month ago, with 27 new ones in September alone. Sellers here mostly got their price in September, but they were up against fewer listings than you are now. The two units that sold over asking were both at Midtown Village, and that says something about that building, not necessarily yours.
- Above $650,000, five sales on one street don’t reprice the whole tier. The Bryant Row sales are real and they closed at 97 to 100 percent of asking, but only after most of a year on the market, and thirteen new luxury listings came on the same month. Price off your own building and the listings still sitting, not off a row of new town homes by the stadium.
The year so far
Seven full months, same method
I rebuild every month since March from one search, the same way each time, and all six earlier months matched exactly when I reran them on October 1. So nothing here has been restated. The month-by-month counts and medians are in the stat sheet at the bottom of this page.
Here’s where September lands. It was middle of the pack for number of sales (fifth of seven, ahead of only August and April), but third for dollars, behind May and June. That gap is the whole story. 16 of September’s 31 sales closed at $352,500 or more. In August only 8 of 30 did. The median moved about $57,500 in a month without anybody repricing anything. The mix of what closed just shifted up.
One month’s median is really a vote on which units happened to close. Seven months in, the pattern is a median that swings with how many sales land above $350,000, and in September eight of them landed above $650,000.
Where the money actually went
The top came back, and it came back as one address
Eight sales cleared $650,000 in September, about $9.9 million together, or 57 percent of every dollar that closed in the county. Five of those were at Bryant Row, two at $1.5 million and three at $1.445 million. That’s $7.3 million and 42 percent of the month from one row. The buyers came through three different brokerages, and Harwood had two of them. The other three luxury sales were a WestGate Residences unit at $1,020,000 (the tower on 8th Street next to the stadium) and two at The Elle, a 1992 building a block away, at $825,000 and $750,000. At least eleven more listings above $650,000 were under contract on October 1. Those three sales and eleven contracts are the honest picture of luxury condo demand in September: steady, not surging.
The middle did something I haven’t seen since I started keeping this archive. All eight sales between $350,000 and $650,000 closed at exactly full asking: two at Houndstooth on 15th Street, one at The Druid downtown on Greensboro Avenue, one at Watercress, one at The Elle, and three new town homes at Ivory Bluff on 4th Street NE at $599,900 each. Those three Ivory Bluff homes had been under contract since March and April, so they were really spring deals that only closed now.
The bottom did its usual work, just with a smaller share of the month: 15 of 31 sales were under $350,000, compared with 21 of 30 in August. Five were Watercress units and five were at Midtown Village, the condos above the shops on 5th Avenue East. Watercress also had its first miss in a while. Unit 5003 sold for $299,900 against a $324,900 asking price, the first Watercress unit to close under asking since July 1. All seven of its August sales got full price or better.
Five sales on one street tell you about that street, not the whole tier. Take Bryant Row out and the top closed three sales in September, the biggest at $1,020,000.
What happened to last month’s pipeline
17 of the 28 closed, and the big ones held
On September 1 there were 28 condos and town homes under contract from August, the pipeline I wrote about last month. By September 30, 17 of them had closed and ten were still under contract. The last one, a Watercress unit, was pulled, relisted and closed the same day under a new listing number, so it’s really one sale with two numbers. None of the 28 fell through. One older contract did: a Harbrooke Downs unit, under contract since early June, came off pending on September 28.
The three Bryant Row town homes that went under contract in late August, after eleven months on the market, all closed. One got its full $1.5 million asking price and two closed at $1.445 million against $1.49 million, about 97 percent. A fourth on the row, under contract since April, closed at $1.5 million, and a fifth went under contract September 13 and closed eight days later. The WestGate unit asking $1,050,000 closed at $1,020,000. Of the seven luxury contracts open on September 1, five closed. The other two, at The Elle and asking $775,000 each, are still pending.
Now the other side. 21 new contracts were signed in September. Four already closed, and 17 were still pending on October 1. Nine of those 17 are above $650,000, including a WestGate penthouse asking $1.75 million, The Gates at South Zone at $1.6 million, two more at Bryant Row, The Enclave on Red Drew Avenue, a Camellia Place unit that went under contract in nine days, and one at The Elle. Add the ten August contracts still open and 27 condos are pending going into October, asking about $18.3 million combined, and that’s before counting older contracts from earlier in the year. Keep in mind asking price isn’t contract price. The contract price stays private until the sale closes.
Twenty-one is fewer than August’s 36, but that comparison needs an asterisk. Contract dates in this MLS get filled in late in a way closing dates don’t. August showed 36 on September 1 and now shows 40, because four September closings had August contract dates entered after the fact. September’s 21 will probably creep up the same way. Even so, fewer contracts got signed in September than in August, with more listings on the market.
The pipeline is smaller than August’s and more top-heavy: nine of the seventeen new contracts are above $650,000.
How fast each price range actually moved
Median days on market, resales only
Under $350,000, the typical resale took about a month (29.5 days, on 10 sales). Between $350,000 and $650,000 it took about two weeks (16 days, on 7 sales). Above $650,000 the number is 272.5 days, but that’s Bryant Row. Five of the eight luxury sales sat 205 to 363 days before going under contract. The other three took 16 days, same day, and 4 days.
The entry level is where I need to update last month’s advice. In August, 11 of 14 entry-level resales closed under asking and none over, and I called that a sign you could negotiate. In September, of 10 resales, 3 closed under asking, 5 right at it, and 2 over, both at Midtown Village. Ten sales can’t tell you the discount is gone, but they do tell you August’s one-sided month didn’t repeat.
The middle, at about two weeks with every resale at full asking, was the fastest and cleanest part of the county.
The part nobody publishes
Fourteen came off, eight came right back
Sellers pulled fourteen listings in September, typically after three or four months without a sale. Eight of them were back on the market before the month was out, and six came back the same day at the same price: three town homes at The Row on Fourteenth after about five months, one at St Charles Place, one at Midtown Village that had been listed since January, and one at Crossland that got pulled again 18 days later. A Townes of North River unit came back eleven days later and $10,000 lower. And the Watercress unit came back $2,000 lower and sold the same day.
The Row on Fourteenth units are the ones to understand. They were listed in April, sat about five months, came off September 14 and 15, and went back on the same day at the same prices, $819,900 to $849,900. On October 1 they showed 15 and 16 days on market. The Midtown Village unit had been available since January 27 and showed 8. A new listing date resets the counter buyers see. It doesn’t reset the history, and buyers can pull the history.
Last month I listed six August relists that came back at the same price and said all six were still sitting. I checked each one by MLS number on October 1, and all six are still for sale at the same price, now 30 to 48 days into their second try: one each at Ivory Bluff, The Ridge at Timber Cove, Watercress and Fairfax Village, plus two at Emory Woods that have been available since April 9. The one August relist that cut its price, at The Elle, sold on September 28 at the lower price. That’s not enough to prove the price cut is what sold it, but it does tell you which one sold.
A new listing date resets the counter buyers see, not the price history.
Around Tuscaloosa
Rates, a busy October, and new luxury listings
Rates went up this month. On September 16 the Federal Reserve raised its rate a quarter point, to 3.75 to 4.00 percent, its first increase since 2023, and the next meeting is October 27 and 28. What matters more if you’re borrowing is the 10-year Treasury, which mortgage rates tend to follow. It hit 5.34 percent on October 1, the highest since 2002. In plain terms, borrowing costs more right now than it has in a long time. Condos also have an extra step houses don’t. Some buildings here don’t qualify for a regular mortgage, usually because too many units are rented out or one owner holds too many of them. Lenders call those buildings non-warrantable. You can usually still buy in one, but you need a local lender who offers the right loan, and that conversation needs to happen before you make an offer, not after. I’m not a lender; the lender decides what a given building qualifies for and on what terms.
Georgia comes to Bryant-Denny on Saturday, October 10, and Texas A&M on Saturday, October 24 for homecoming. Friday nights at the Amphitheater bring Gov’t Mule with Ziggy Marley on the 9th, Breaking Benjamin on the 16th and Jon Pardi on the 23rd. The Kentuck Festival of the Arts is Saturday and Sunday, October 17 and 18, at Snow Hinton Park. If you’re coming in for any of it, send me your dates and I’ll set up tours of any condo, town home or house while you’re here. A game weekend is the best time to see a building near campus, because you see it at full volume. Dates come from the published schedules and times move, so double-check before you plan around them.
Thirteen listings above $650,000 came on in September. A few worth knowing about: a Bryant Drive town home on 22nd Avenue at $1.45 million, a unit at Alston Place on Greensboro Avenue at $1.39 million, a Camellia Place unit at $874,900 (right next to one that went under contract at $1,075,000 in nine days), a unit at The Chimes at $975,000, and the three relists at The Row on Fourteenth. Add August’s eleven and the top of this market has had 24 new listings in two months, against 12 sales and 17 new contracts. The sales and contracts say the buyers are there. The listings say plenty of supply is showing up to meet them.
Full Numbers
Every status, side by side
| Status | Min Ask | Max Ask | Ask | Still active Oct 1 | Already under contract | Already closed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Listed in September (49) | $95,000 | $1,470,000 | $299,900 | 35 | 11 | 2 |
Key Numbers
September 2026 recap
31
Closed in September
$352,500
Median sale
$227,500
Median entry-tier resale
56.9%
Of dollars above $650K
17 of 28
August contracts that closed
14
Withdrawn, 8 relisted
Data sourced from WAMLS. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
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