When Is The Best Time of Year to Sell Your Home?

There is great debate over when the best time is to sell your home, with many people considering warm weather a plus when putting a property on the market while others believe the winter months could be best. Actually, the time of sale differs with the country. In the UK the best time may be in September-October, in the US, it’s the June/July when real estate sells reach peak.

Timing is everything when it comes to real estate buying or selling. Listing your property in the peak hours generate interest among many and as a result, the offer price goes up. If you’ve been thinking, ‘I must sell my house’ lately but aren’t sure when is best to put up a listing then we’ve taken a look at what the experts have to say on the matter:

September – great if you live in a popular school catchment area

Considered the perfect time of year in the UK for selling a home, The Express believes September the 2^ndto be perfect because it offers a two-month window before the supposed lull in buyer activity in November. It’s also when those people with children look for a property to move into before February in their ideal school catchment area before applications close.

It’s also when parents who have been looking after their kids all summer holidays finally have the chance to focus on their new property search, so expect lots of viewings and queries.

March – there are pros and cons to this time of year, think carefully

Spring time is considered an ideal opportunity to put your home on the market, the flowers are blooming and the buyers are coming out onto the market, searching for the perfect property to nest in for the foreseeable future. House prices can be set a little higher at this time of year, as the days are longer, lighter and encourage more buyers to partake in viewings.

Your home will look better in the daylight and your valuation should also be more accurate as estate agents are working on numerous properties with owners who had the same idea as you. This leads us to the cons, which involve more competition from other sellers and pickier buyers who have more choice but neither of these can outweigh the benefits of listing your property at this time of year.

Christmas – good for dedicated buyers but expect some bartering

Rightmove has stated that it received 1 million visitors on Christmas Day, viewing the site online and on the app, and nearly 3million visited on the first working day last January – indicating that Christmas is a strong time of year to list your property.

This could be because people are thinking about a fresh start in the new year and a new home is just the way to achieve that.

There are reports that sites such as Rightmove witness a 30% drop in visitors from the start of November but alternatively you could see this as an opportunity and that only dedicated buyers will be browsing the site at Christmas time.

When it comes to selling your home it appears that September is an opportune time but don’t reject March and the Christmas period if you really can’t wait. Remember, you will be searching for a new property to move into as well, so always choose a time of year that you know will benefit you and your situation.

In the USA, peak season starts in June

The two top real estate sites Zillow and realtor state that the peak American home buying season starts in June. So if you’re in the USA, the rule of thumb is that your property must be listed during this peak season. As a seller, you should aim for the maximum eyeball on your property listing page.

If you are a buyer, you naturally search for newly listed homes, properties listed for long generally is a bad sign. So you may not want to list your property very early in the year as it may attract very few visitors and as a result, you either get a low offer or you end up not getting an offer at all.

If I sell my home ever I’ll lust them by Spring, to be specific I’d want to list by beginning of May. So if you want to list your home by this Spring, this is the time to get going, fix your home issues, work on the landscaping and get some professional pictures for the listing. Many small things help.

Readers, have you sold your home? When did you sell and what was your experience. Share what you know to us.