Hot take: Peak homebuying season is overrated.

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Sure, summer makes sense if you have kids in school. But wait until fall, and your patience often pays off. With less competition, buyers have more negotiating power.

This year, fall buyers have another advantage: Growing inventory. Housing supply hasn’t been this plentiful since May 2020.

If you didn’t luck out during your summer house hunt, be grateful. This fall just might be the best window for home buyers in the past five years. Here’s why.

Competition has calmed down

Back in 2021 and 2022, it felt nearly impossible to buy a house. Few places were listed for sale, thanks in part to the “rate lock-in effect” — homeowners clinging to their ultra-low mortgage rates. When a good listing popped up, buyers entered rabid bidding wars.

Until recently, sellers basked in the spotlight. But now the market is remixing, and it’s finally starting to feel like a duet.

Joel Berner, senior economist at Realtor.com, calls it a “buyer-friendly balanced market” — not quite a buyer’s market, but a noticeable power shift.

“What we’re seeing a lot of is sellers with some unrealistic expectations who list their homes maybe at prices they would have gotten in 2022, but it’s not 2022 anymore,” he says. “So they kind of have to do price reductions and negotiate with buyers more than they have in the past.”

An experienced buyer’s agent can help you understand how buyers in your market can flex this exciting new leverage. For example, you might be able to negotiate a lower purchase price, get the seller to pay for repairs or score some flexibility on a closing date.

Depending on your area, asking for all three still might be a stretch. Buyers have sway — not a magic wand.

Your friends are (probably) moving, too

After years of feeling stuck, buyers and sellers have recalibrated to the new normal of interest rates in the 6-7% range.

“Life happens,” Berner says. “People change jobs, people need to upsize, downsize. And, you know, that doesn’t always coincide nicely with mortgage rates.”

Housing inventory is measured in months’ supply, or the number of months it would take to sell all listed homes if no new ones came on the market.

In July 2025, the housing market had a 4.6 months’ supply of homes for sale, reports the National Association of Realtors — the highest number of houses on the market since before the pandemic.

Finally, the gridlock has eased. Buyers have more choice and don’t have to rush. In simple terms: “Higher inventory” just means more people are willing to move, whether or not that’s your literal social circle.

But when a friend lands a great new house, it might unlock your urge to browse listings, too.

Alexa Weber, a real estate agent with Hillary Ryan Group, Sotheby’s International Realty, has noticed the bandwagon effect among buyers. People like to see what’s working for friends or family before they make the decision for themselves, she says.

“Once they start seeing more momentum in the market — more properties going into contract, more properties closing — it gives them the confidence to move on their purchase that maybe they’ve been planning for a year or more,” Weber says.

Here’s the kicker: When mortgage rates eventually drop, all those friends and neighbors sitting on the sidelines will want to join the game. That could drive competition up again. So if you’re ready to buy, jump in now.

You could get a price break

Affording a home is still pretty tough.

Since early 2020, the median purchase price for a home has risen 55.7%, while wages have grown only 26.6%, according to a June 2025 report from ATTOM, a real estate data provider. The national median price in July 2025 was $422,400, according to the NAR, and year-over-year home prices have risen for 25 straight months.

Despite that broader trend, a few smaller wins this fall could add up.

First, home price growth is flattening. In July, the year-over-year gain was only 0.2%, suggesting that roughly half the country is seeing price drops, NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun noted in a news release. That’s another reason to team up with a local buyer’s agent who knows what’s happening in your area, Berner says. In many areas, prices are falling year over year.

“Really, there’s no such thing as a national market,” Berner says. “There’s just a bunch of local markets.”

Another score: In the fall, sellers tend to reduce prices for homes that have been on the market for a while. Plus, you can usually save a few bucks on moving costs.

Mortgage rates might drop

Finally, the wild card: Mortgage rates. Despite economic uncertainty, forecasts still expect average mortgage rates to drop slightly by the final quarter of 2025, with Fannie Mae predicting 6.5% and the Mortgage Bankers Association saying 6.6%. Of course, nothing is guaranteed. All eyes are on the Sept. 16-17 Federal Reserve meeting, which could signal optimism or pessimism for September mortgage rates and the months ahead.

Fractions of a percentage point do matter when it comes to mortgage rates. When you pay less in interest, it can lower your monthly payment or increase your purchasing power.

But avoid the temptation to time the market perfectly, Berner says. If a house meets your needs and works for your budget right now, that’s your cue. If rates drop, you can always refinance later.

“This is the most buyer-friendly market we’ve had since the pandemic,” he says. “So if you find what you’re looking for, jump on it.”

More From NerdWallet

How To Regret-Proof Your Home Purchase
How to Budget for a New Home So You Don’t End Up House Poor
How Much Money Do You Need to Buy a House?

Abby Badach Doyle writes for NerdWallet. Email: abadachdoyle@nerdwallet.com.

The article 4 Reasons Why This Fall Is the Ideal Time to Buy a House originally appeared on NerdWallet.

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration took the fight over tariffs to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, asking the justices to rule quickly that the president has the power to impose sweeping import taxes under federal law.

The government called on the court to reverse an appeals court ruling that found most of President Donald Trump’s tariffs are an illegal use of an emergency powers law.

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It’s the latest in a series of Trump administration appeals to a Supreme Court he helped shape, and one that is expected to put a centerpiece of the president’s trade policy before the justices.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit left the tariffs in place for now, but the administration nevertheless called on the high court to intervene quickly in a petition filed electronically late Wednesday and provided to The Associated Press. It was expected to be formally docketed on Thursday.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the justices to take up the case and hear arguments in early November.

“That decision casts a pall of uncertainty upon ongoing foreign negotiations that the President has been pursuing through tariffs over the past five months, jeopardizing both already negotiated framework deals and ongoing negotiations,” he wrote. “The stakes in this case could not be higher.”

But the stakes are also high for small businesses battered by tariffs and uncertainty, said Jeffrey Schwab, senior counsel and director of litigation at the Liberty Justice Center.

“These unlawful tariffs are inflicting serious harm on small businesses and jeopardizing their survival. We hope for a prompt resolution of this case for our clients,” he said.

The businesses have twice prevailed, once at a federal court focused on trade and again with the appeals court’s 7-4 ruling.

Their lawsuit is one of several challenging the tariffs and erratic rollout that have shaken global markets, alienated U.S. trading partners and allies and raised fears of higher prices and slower economic growth.

But Trump has also used the levies to pressure the European Union, Japan and other countries into accepting new trade deals. Revenue from tariffs totaled $159 billion by late August, more than double what it was at the same point the year before.

Most judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, did not let Trump usurp congressional power to set tariffs. The dissenters, though, said the law does allow the president to regulate importation during emergencies without explicit limitations.

The ruling involves two sets of import taxes, both of which Trump justified by declaring a national emergency: the tariffs first announced in April and the ones from February on imports from Canada, China and Mexico.

The Constitution gives Congress the power to impose taxes, including tariffs. But over the decades, lawmakers have ceded authority to the president, and Trump has made the most of the power vacuum.

Some Trump tariffs, including levies on foreign steel, aluminum and autos, weren’t covered by the appeals court ruling. It also does not include tariffs Trump imposed on China in his first term that were kept by Democratic President Joe Biden.

Trump can impose tariffs under other laws, but those have more limitations on the speed and severity with which he could act.

The government has argued that if the tariffs are struck down, it might have to refund some of the import taxes that it’s collected, delivering a financial blow to the U.S. Treasury.

By COLLEEN BARRY Associated Press

MILAN (AP) — Giorgio Armani, the Italian designer who turned the concept of understated elegance into a multibillion-dollar fashion empire, has died, his fashion house confirmed. He was 91.

Armani died at home, the fashion house said. Armani, one of the most recognizable names and faces in the global fashion industry, missed Milan Fashion Week in June 2025 for the first time during the previews of Spring-Summer 2026 menswear to recover from an undisclosed condition. He was planning a major event to celebrate 50 years of his signature Giorgio Armani fashion house during Milan Fashion Week this month.

FILE – Designer Giorgio Armani, centre, poses with models at the end of his women’s 2019 Spring-Summer collection, unveiled during the Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Sept. 23, 2018. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)

Starting with an unlined jacket, a simple pair of pants and an urban palette, Armani put Italian ready-to-wear style on the international fashion map in the late 1970s, creating an instantly recognizable relaxed silhouette that has propelled the fashion house for half a century.

From the executive office to the Hollywood screen, Armani dressed the rich and famous in classic tailored styles, fashioned in super-soft fabrics and muted tones. His handsome black tie outfits and glittering evening gowns often stole the show on award season red carpets.

At the time of his death, Armani had put together an empire worth over $10 billion, which along with clothing included accessories, home furnishings, perfumes, cosmetics, books, flowers and even chocolates, ranking him in the world’s top 200 billionaires, according to Forbes.

The designer also owned several bars, clubs, restaurants and his own basketball team EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, better known as Olympia Milano. Armani opened more than than 20 restaurants from Milan to Tokyo since 1998, and two hotels, one in Dubai in 2009 and another in Milan, in 2010.

Armani himself was the foundation of his style

Armani style began with Giorgio Armani himself, from the penetrating blue eyes framed in a permanent tan and early-age shock of silver hair, to the trademark jeans and t-shirt work clothes and the minimalist decoration of his private homes.

Armani’s fashion vision was that of easygoing elegance where attention to detail made the difference.

FILE – Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani acknowledges the applause after presenting the Emporio Armani men’s Fall-Winter 2016-2017 collection, part of the Milan Fashion Week, unveiled in Milan, Italy, Jan. 18, 2016. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, file)

“I design for real people. There is no virtue whatsoever in creating clothes and accessories that are not practical,” he liked to say when asked to identify his clientele.

In conversation, the designer’s disarming smile and exquisitely mild manners belied the tough businessman underneath, who was able to turn creative talent into a fashion empire worth over $10 billion. Never a merger nor a sale, Re Giorgio (King George) as the Italians call him, was always his own boss.

Born July 11, 1934, in Piacenza, a small town south of Milan, Armani dreamed of becoming a doctor before a part-time job as a window decorator in a Milan department store opened his eyes to the world of fashion.

In 1975, Armani and his partner Sergio Galeotti sold their Volkswagen for $10,000 to start up their own menswear ready-to-wear label. Womenswear followed a year later.

The symbol of his new style was the liningless sports jacket, which was launched in the late 1970s and became an instant success from Hollywood to Wall Street. The designer paired the jacket with a simple t-shirt, an item of clothing he termed “the alpha and omega of the fashion alphabet.”

The Armani suit soon became a must in the closet of the well-heeled man. And for women, the introduction of the pantsuit in the executive workroom was all but revolutionary. Dubbed the “power suit” with its shoulder-padded jacket and man-tailored trousers, it became the trademark of the rising class of businesswomen in the 1980s.

Over the years Armani would soften the look with delicate detailing, luxurious fabrics and brighter shades for his basic beige and gray palette. His insistence on pants and jackets led some critics to label his fashion “androgynous.”

Armani hits Hollywood

The 1980 film classic “American Gigolo” launched both Armani and actor Richard Gere on their Hollywood careers. Dressed in Armani, Gere became America’s new favorite heart throb, and “Geeorgeeo” as they called him, the glam set’s most popular designer.

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The Hollywood connection earned him wardrobe film credits in over 200 films, and in 2003 a place on Rodeo Drive’s “Walk of Fame.”

Oscar night always sparkled, with smart suiting for the men, and glittering gowns for the ladies. The 2009 best actor winner Sean Penn picked up his statue in a black-on-black Armani outfit, while best actress nominee Anne Hathaway walked the red carpet in a shimmering white strapless evening gown from Armani’s latest Prive couture collection.

Other longtime devotees included Jodie Foster, George Clooney, Sofia Loren and Brad Pitt. David and Victoria Beckham were the “face” of his 2009 underwear ad campaign.

So significant was the impact of Armani style, not only on how people dressed but how they approached fashion, that in 2000 New York’s Guggenheim museum presented a retrospective of Armani’s first 25 years in fashion.

“I love things that age well, things that don’t date and become living examples of the absolute best,” Armani said of his efforts.

Armani has gone well beyond fashion

Today, the Armani empire has an army of more than 9,000 employees, with women comprising half of the executive suite, along with seven industrial hubs and over 600 stores worldwide, according to figures released in 2023. Along with clothes and accessories, the company produces perfumes, cosmetics and home furnishings, as well as selling its own candy, flowers and even books. The designer opened his fifth multi-brand store on New York’s fashionable Fifth Avenue in February 2009.

In the realm of fashion hobbies, Armani owned several bars, restaurants and clubs, as well as the basketball team. Recreation time was spent in getaways in Broni in the countryside near Milan, the isle of Pantelleria off Sicily and St. Tropez on the French Riviera. Each home bore the trademark of Armani design: bare walls, important pieces, few knickknacks.

Like many of his colleagues, Armani tried to give back some of the fame and fortune he amassed during the heyday of the “moda Milanese” which put Italian ready-to-wear at the center of the world’s fashion map at the turn of the millennium. Personally involved in several charity organizations devoted to children and a staunch supporter of the battle against AIDS, in 2002 Armani was named a U.N. goodwill ambassador for refugees.

Galeotti died in 1985. Armani had no children but was very close to his niece Roberta, daughter of his late brother Sergio. She abandoned a budding film career to become his director of public relations, and often represented her uncle, who wasn’t much of a party-goer, at social events. In later years she was a key go-between with the celebrity world.

In 2006, she orchestrated the top-billed wedding of actors Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes in a medieval castle outside Rome, while Uncle Giorgio designed the attire for both bride and groom.

Armani had indicated that as he considered succession he was looking toward his longtime head of menswear Leo Dell’Orco and his niece Silvana Armani, who fills the same role for womenswear.

By MIKE STOBBE, Associated Press Medical Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is to appear before a congressional committee Thursday, where he is expected to face questions about turmoil at federal health agencies.

The U.S. Senate Finance Committee has called Kennedy to a hearing about his plans to — according to Kennedy’s slogan — “Make America Healthy Again.”

But the health secretary is expected to face questions about layoffs and planned budget cuts that detractors say is wrecking the nation’s ability to prevent disease.

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That may include having Kennedy speak to the events of last week, when the Trump administration fired the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention less than a month into her tenure.

Several top CDC leaders resigned in protect, leaving the agency in turmoil.

The ousted director, Susan Monarez, wrote in The Wall Street Journal on Thursday that Kennedy was trying to weaken public health protections.

“I was told to preapprove the recommendations of a vaccine advisory panel newly filled with people who have publicly expressed antivaccine rhetoric,” Monarez wrote. “It is imperative that the panel’s recommendations aren’t rubber-stamped but instead are rigorously and scientifically reviewed before being accepted or rejected.”

In a statement last week, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon — the highest ranking Democrat on the committee — said Kennedy must “answer to the public and their representatives about the chaos, confusion, and harm his actions are inflicting on American families.”

Republicans including Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a physician and vaccines supporter, are also likely to press Kennedy.

Asked if he has confidence in the health secretary, North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said he wants to hear from Kennedy in person.

“He’s got to reconcile what he said during his confirmation process with what we’ve seen over the past few months, particularly on vaccine policy,” Tillis said.

In May, Kennedy — a longtime leader in the anti-vaccine movement — announced COVID-19 vaccines would no longer be recommended for healthy children and pregnant women, a move opposed by medical and public health groups.

In June, he abruptly a panel of experts that had been advising the government on vaccine policy. He replaced them with a handpicked group that included several vaccine skeptics, and then shut the door to several doctors groups that had long helped form the committee’s recommendations.

A number of medical groups say Kennedy can’t be counted on to make decisions based on robust medical evidence. In a statement Wednesday, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and 20 other medical and public health organizations issued a joint statement calling on Kennedy to resign.

“Our country needs leadership that will promote open, honest dialogue, not disregard decades of lifesaving science, spread misinformation, reverse medical progress and decimate programs that keep us safe,” the statement said.

Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.