Editor's Note: This post was originally published on May 2, 2019. Housecall continues to share this piece due to ongoing requests and reader interest.
If you're on the fence about listing your home, now is the perfect time to take the dive. According to a recent ATTOM Data Solutions analysis, 19 of the 20 best days to sell during the calendar year fall in May or June.
After analyzing more than 28 million single-family home and condo sales over the past eight years, ATTOM Data Solutions concluded that sellers listing around this time of the year—as the weather is warming up—will garner seller premiums.
"Since summer is a time for vacations and outings, it's no surprise that it's also a time when people are most likely to move," said Todd Teta, chief product officer with ATTOM Data Solutions.
Additionally, the company broke down their eight years' worth of research month by month. Here were the best months to sell, between 2011 and 2018, based on seller premiums for single-family home and condo sales:
1. June
- Number of sales: 2,881,400
- Median sales price: $200,000
- Seller premium: 9.2%
2. May
- Number of sales: 2,657,045
- Median sales price: $190,000
- Seller premium: 7.4%
3. July
- Number of sales: 2,752,755
- Median sales price: $199,500
- Seller premium: 7.3%
4. April
- Number of sales: 2,372,242
- Median sales price: $184,063
- Seller premium: 6.4%
5. March
- Number of sales: 2,247,224
- Median sales price: $178,000
- Seller premium: 6.1%
6. August
- Number of sales: 2,802,268
- Median sales price: $195,706
- Seller premium: 5.8%
7. February
- Number of sales: 1,694,513
- Median sales price: $170,000
- Seller premium: 5.6%
8. September
- Number of sales: 2,423,163
- Median sales price: $190,000
- Seller premium: 4.7%
9. November
- Number of sales: 2,094,175
- Median sales price: $188,173
- Seller premium: 4.0%
10. January
- Number of sales: 1,762,726
- Median sales price: $170,000
- Seller premium: 3.7%
11. October
- Number of sales: 2,440,413
- Median sales price: $188,000
- Seller premium: 3.3%
12. December
- Number of sales: 2,223,542
- Median sales price: $188,000
- Seller premium: 3.3%
And below is an infographic produced by ATTOM Data Solutions illustrating what they found to be some of the top days during the year to sell a home.
Image: ATTOM Data Solutions
To view the analysis and for a full breakdown of the company's methodology, click here.
I’m assuming this data is calculated off of the closing date? Which would mean the days that these homes went under contract were roughly 45 days prior to that right?
So we listed in June, two weeks before the July 4th holiday week. Showings were almost non-existant. Initial photos were improved to be great. But the owners refused to pressure wash/paint exterior. They also refused to repair/repaint interior wall and ceiling damage from a previously bad roof, which they HAD replaced.
So, what do we do to get this sold? We dropped price $10K, but we are still close to a half-million, and buyers at that price point want the insides perfect. Suggestions?
Rick, the fixes you feel the seller needs to do are going to need to be done in order to sell the house. You still have the same product that people were rejecting before, just 10k cheaper. Not nearly enough to persuade a buyer to accept it w damaged ceilings and an exterior that needs to be power washed. The potential buyer’s perceived cost of the repairs is far greater than what it would actually cost your seller to fix them. If they’re paying a mortgage, add that in too. (Hope you already sold it, but just saw this so hope it helps.)
I would think that all this data is so random . It would depend on your location in the USA as to the best time of year to sell your home .
That is correct for beach areas in Fort Myers Florida.
Your seller sounds like they are not motivated or have the funds to or want to get top dollar for their property. They hired you to sell their home. Is there another reason they won’t do these things? Are they moving up or down sizing? Sometimes money problems may keep them from moving forward. If they keep the home like it is, it will get an offer from an investor that will reap their potential equity. First impressions are everything.
It is good to know that if you want to get the most money from your family house the best time to sell it seems to be in the month of June. My family and I were considering moving out of our home and selling it off here soon, but we need the money to buy our next home, and we’d prefer to stay in the same type of house rather than a downgrade. We’ll have to consider selling our house in the summer months to get the most money out of our home as your study suggested.
This article seems to confuse the difference between list date, sale date, and close date, and seems to base “best date” on solely “seller’s premiums — whatever that is.
There are so many factors that go into timing the real estate market, simply using list date, sales date, closing date, and some non-real estate term, sellers premium, is an insult to us industry professionals, and damaging advice to the public.
To the same point as some other messages on this board closing dates are predicated on contracts that procured months prior and for most of us the truth of the matter is that summer is not the best time to sell a house it’s the spring and the fall.
Statistics like this make an excellent argument why an experienced realtor is still a must for a home seller and why the internet or technology is not ready to replace the realtor.
As mentioned in this blog, the mentioned months might be great to sell in parts of the country, while not so favorable in other parts of the country.
Further, the seller premium is based on an AVM which we all know, is many times flawed. To top it off, a house is not sold in one day.
Though I appreciate statistics, we need to be careful what message we are sending.
According to the analysis, sellers who want to attend for the weather to heat up, will receive the most well liked seller premiums also. Since Summer may be a time for vacations and outings, it’s no surprise that it is also a time when people are presumably to maneuver, Families start their home search once they know their kids are going to be out of faculty and when the weather is right for home viewing and moving, giving home sellers a whip hand in price negotiations.