The Time Of Year To Sell Your House If You Want The Best Price

If you're thinking about selling your home, the good news is that it's still a seller's market, with demand still greater than inventory. But, compared to how home sales were a year or so ago, things in real estate have cooled considerably. So, it's still prudent to target the best time of year to sell your home, especially if you want to better your odds of getting the best price. According to historical data, the best time to sell a home is in the spring (and summer).

It's true, it wasn't too long ago when a homeowner could put their home up for sale at any time and pretty much be assured it would sell above its asking price; but, as said, things in the housing market have changed. To wit, the National Association of Realtors reports existing-home sales for October 2023 were down 14.6% year-over-year from 2022. At the same time, though, median existing-home prices were up to $391,800, representing a 3.4% increase from the same time a year ago — which is obviously welcome news for sellers. This said, if you want to guarantee a solid premium on the sale of your home, you may want to wait until it's the right season.

According to ATTOM — a provider of land, property, and real estate data — it's in a home seller's best interest to wait for the warmer weather to arrive. In its 2023 yearly analysis, in which ATTOM analyzed more than 51 million single-family home/condo sales over a 12-year span (2011 to 2022), the company found that spring and summer are the best times of the year to sell your home, with seller premiums over 10% not uncommon.

If you wish to zero in on a month, the best month to sell your home is May. Per ATTOM's findings, the best 16 days to sell a home are in the fifth month of the year. Of course, these numbers may not be the same for you and your location or situation. You may not want to wait until May, June, or July to sell your home, especially if you're ready to move now, but this historical data certainly builds a strong case as far as patterns go.

As for the top months for seller premiums, home sellers should be looking at May (12.8%), June (10.7%), April (10.3%), March (9.7%), July (9.6%), and February (8.7%). What's the worst month to sell a home, as far as premiums go? That would be November, according to ATTOM, with a seller premium of 6.3%. October and December aren't far behind, though, with both fall/winter months coming in at numbers 10 and 11, respectively (tied at 6.8%). Because of this, this is actually the time of year experts suggest it's a good time for buyers to look for homes, for the very reasons why it's less of a seller's market for home sellers: fewer house hunters means fewer bids and thus less of a bidding war to drive prices up even higher.

Beyond the best time of year to sell your home for the best price, you might also consider the day you put your home on the open market. According to Zillow research, Thursday is the best day to list a home for a fast sale, with Sunday being the worst. What's more, Zillow says a Thursday listing can also lead to a higher premium, finding that properties listed on Thursday were 1.5% more likely to sell above their asking price.