Thinking about selling your house, but don’t want to sell at a bad time of year?

Confirming what you already suspected, real estate is in fact seasonal. Some seasons and months are better than others, and there is a best time to sell a house. 

You can optimize for both speed and price by listing your home at the “right” time of year. That said, your personal needs should always trump seasonality in the housing market. List your house when it’s best for you, not for the market. 

Best Time of Year to Sell a House

Historically, spring and early summer have offered the best time of year to sell a house. 

It makes sense: families are wrapping up the school year, and approaching summer vacation. Buyers enjoy warm but not hot weather, and can close on the new home with plenty of time to move in before the new school year. 

Consider the following pros and cons of selling a house in each season. 

Home Selling in Spring

An analysis of 12 years of housing data by Attom Data Solutions found that April, May, and June all saw homes sell for more than 10% above market value on average. 

Homes tend to show well in spring and early summer, with flowers adding pops of color and lawns growing green. Depending on the weather, you can potentially leave the windows and doors open for breezy showings with plenty of fresh air flow and natural light.

And, of course, home buyer demand surges. 

On the downside, you face far more competition from other sellers. You’re not the only seller wise to the spring surge in demand from buyers. You may need to take extra steps to grab prospects’ attention and attract more showings — in particular, focus on outstanding photos and videos of your home for your MLS listing. 

Summer Home Sales

Summer still makes for a great time to sell your home, especially earlier in the season.

One advantage to listing your home earlier in the spring is that you still have plenty of time to make adjustments by late spring or early summer. You can still capture the spike in buyer demand, even if it requires some strategy tweaks at halftime. 

If your home sat on the market with no offers in early and mid-spring, reassess where it’s falling short with buyers. Does the property get plenty of showings, but no offers? Perhaps it lacks curb appeal, or perhaps something inside the property is turning off buyers. Make sure your listing agent follows up with buyers’ agents to ask what their clients didn’t like about the house. 

Does the property not get many showings? Look again at the listing, and especially photos and videos. 

And, of course, you could simply be asking too much for the property. 

Mid-summer tends to see a last push by buyers looking to move before the new school year. Make your adjustments before then to try and hook one of these serious buyers. 

Selling Properties in the Fall

Fall foliage and cooling temperatures don’t necessarily hurt your home’s curb appeal. Once again, you can potentially open up the windows and doors for airy, sunlit showings. 

But you also need to stay on top of raking leaves and cleaning the gutters, to keep that curb appeal strong. 

The closer you get to the holidays, the more buyer demand drops off — but the more serious the remaining buyers become. Few people want to move during the holidays, but those still viewing homes aren’t just window shopping. 

Winter Home Selling

You guessed it: winter is the slowest time of year for home sales. 

A 20-year study by the NAR found that the four-month period from November through February sees 32% fewer home sales than the hottest four-month period.  

Again, buyers this time of year aren’t kicking tires though. They’re serious, so don’t discount them. 

While your home probably doesn’t show as well in the winter, no one else’s does either. And you have less competition to contend with in the winter, as many would-be sellers pull their homes off the market to wait out the slow sales season. 

Talk to your Realtor about ways to boost your home’s curb appeal in the winter, and whether they recommend waiting until spring to list it. 

What Month Is the Best Time to Sell a House?

The Attom study found that home sellers saw the best boost in sales price (12.8%) over market value in May. But April and June also saw double-digit price premiums. 

Another analysis by Zillow found that homes sold for the highest price premium in July. But they also found that homes sold the fastest in March, when homes went under contract with fewer days on the market. It makes sense — February sees few active listings, so as more homes start hitting the market in March, pent-up demand causes buyers to snap them up quickly. 

Zillow recommends listing between March 11-25 for the fastest possible home sale. For the greatest price premium, they recommend listing your home in late April. 

They advise sellers not to list homes after Labor Day if they can avoid it, for all the reasons outlined above.

That said, different housing markets see different seasonal spikes in demand. A study by HomeLight found that nationwide, June home sales saw the highest purchase prices, but that many cities varied from the national average. In Anchorage, Alaska for example, July saw houses sell for 4.17% above average home prices, presumably due to the warmer weather and longer days in a city not known for either.

Burlington, Vermont and Phoenix, Arizona bucked the seasonal trend entirely, with home sales seeing their best price premiums in December. Talk to an expert real estate agent in your submarket about what they’ve seen in your area. 

Best Day to Put a House on the Market

The Zillow analysis found that Thursday proved the best day of the week to list a home for sale. In fact, homes listed on a Thursday sold for 1.5% higher prices than average, while homes listed on Saturdays and Sundays sold for 1.3% below average. 

Homes listed on Thursdays also sell faster. These homes sit on the market for eight fewer days on average than those listed on Sundays, and seven fewer days than those listed on Saturdays or Mondays. 

In an industry where most questions are answered by “It depends,” it’s nice to have an unambiguous answer to this question at least. 

Best Seasonal House Staging

How should you stage your home at different times of the year?

If you plan to sell in the spring high season, start with your yard. Clean up any winter debris such as dead branches, sticks, and leaves. Plant flowers and other colorful plants, mulch the garden, edge the walkways. 

Inside, do some spring cleaning to make the house sparkle. Box away bulky winter clothes and otherwise declutter. Consider a few fragrant flowers inside the house as well, to brighten it up for eyes and noses alike. 

In the summer, highlight your home’s outdoor areas such as patios, decks, grilling areas, and pools. Make sure any outdoor furniture looks clean and inviting. If you don’t have an outdoor sitting area, you can create the illusion of one by arranging outdoor furniture in a semi-circle in the yard, where tasteful. Keep the air conditioning cool and comfortable for showings, and offer prospects an iced tea or lemonade. 

When you sell a house in the fall, keep the yard clean of leaves, which probably means raking more often than you would otherwise. Clean the gutters more often than usual as well. Repair outdoor lights, to keep the house well-lit as the days get shorter. Consider a few tasteful fall decorations such as pumpkins, but don’t let them decay. If you really want to impress, plant some fall-flowering plants like mums. 

Winter home sellers have an uphill battle. Maintain the lawn as best you can, free of leaves and sticks. Shovel and consider salting all walkways and driveways if you get snow or ice — your prospects need to feel comfortable entering the home. Talk to your listing agent about winter decorations such as wreaths and garlands, but avoid anything that buyers might consider “kitschy,” such as six-foot inflatable Grinches. 

Final Thoughts

As a nationwide average, the best time to sell a house is spring through early summer. That means listing your home for sale in mid-March through late April, and making adjustments if you don’t see any solid offers by early June.

Every city has its own ideal time to sell a house however. Talk to local real estate experts about your particular market. 

Most important of all, sell your house when it makes sense for your personal needs. If you have to move in the winter for work or family reasons, don’t stress about it. Plenty of people both buy and sell houses in the fall and winter. If you need to sell fast, consider selling to a cash buyer like Max Properties. If you do have flexibility to wait, you can likely see the fastest sale in early spring, and the best sales price in mid-spring through early summer.