When is the best time to sell a house?

It’s the reverse of the question we explored last year: When is the best time to buy a home? Many factors come into play. But as is the case with so many real estate-related questions, it’s always best to consult with a real estate professional who is intimately familiar with the home’s location and past selling cycles when determining if it’s a good time to sell your home.

Market research is one of the best ways to uncover a home’s potential for selling at a certain time of year–even down to the best day of the week to list it. Our friends at Zillow have studied this extensively the past few years, and have published several reports with home-sales statistics for the 25 major metropolitan areas, most recently about a year ago. They call it the “Magic Listing Window.”

“May is the New March”

Looking at the country as a whole, the study came to the following main conclusions:

• U.S. home sellers listing their home for sale in the first half of May earn almost 1 percent more on their final selling price and sell their home roughly 20 days faster than average.
• The best two-week window to list a home for sale to both earn more and sell it faster used to be in mid-March, but has now moved into May.

Why the shift? Because housing inventory is so tight in many markets, and renters are waiting longer to begin home-shopping in large part because rents have only gotten more unaffordable.

Listing during the “magic window” in the first half of May lets homeowners maximize their sale price, netting them about $1,800 more for the typical U.S. home, with the bonus of selling their home faster than they might have expected.

The best two-week window to list a home for sale to both earn more and sell it faster used to be in mid-March, but has now moved into May. Share on X

Our region’s ideal timeframes for selling

And now, just in time, we found the survey’s ideal timeframes for sellers to list their home in parts of the Southern California region served by Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties. Remember, these are based on last year’s survey findings, but since the Southern California market is still so desirable, it’s likely little has changed.

Best times to sell your home in Southern California:

• April 1-15: San Diego and Riverside
• April 16-30: Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Anaheim

If you really want to get into the weeds of predicting the best time to sell, consult Zillow’s Best Time to List Tool. It drives home the fact that spring is not always the perfect time to list a home in certain parts of the country–“and in certain areas, it’s just plain wrong.” The tool uses data from individual ZIP codes to help determine the optimal month to list an individual home and calculate just how much more–or less–listing a home for sale in one month vs. another will net the seller.

Why isn’t my home selling?

Again, your agent is your best resource for determining the ideal time to list your home, hold an open house, accept an offer, open/close escrow, and the many other factors that go into a residential sale. One thing that is a constant across all regions: The longer homes stay on the market, the lower the odds of selling for list price. So make sure you price it right and work with an agent who knows the history of your market.

Even if you list at the “right” time of year, there are factors that can make your home more or less desirable to buyers. Read about the reasons why your home might not be selling for some tips on how to get it off the market as quickly and lucratively as possible.

When Is the Best Time to Sell a House? There’s no precise answer, but predictions are available Share on X

Now that you’re ready to sell, you’re probably wondering when the best time to buy a home is and how to move all your belongings without losing your mind.