The Best Time to Sell a House by Location and Other Factors
Nationwide, the best time to sell a house is in June if you’re looking to maximize the sale price. However, the best time to sell a house varies by location and is influenced by seasonality, interest rates, location, and market conditions.
We crunched five years of HomeLight market data to uncover the best times of year to sell your home. We also spoke with top real estate agents Gary Lanham from Fort Lauderdale, Jason Huerkamp from Minneapolis, and Gregg Phillipson from San Diego to get their expert insights on how to plan for your home sale and weigh factors relevant to your market.
The best time to sell varies by location
Although June is the best time to sell nationwide, it might not be the best time of year to sell in your particular market. Every city is different, and the best times of year to sell can change over time.
For example, Huerkamp sees most of the Twin Cities’ sales in the spring and early summer, when the snow has finally melted in Minnesota. Most people don’t want to sell or buy during the winter months, he says, to avoid moving during the icy season.
“Ultimately, if you’re looking to get the most money for your sale in any traditional market, when your home is going to look the best is going to be when your curb appeal is really good,” Huerkamp says. “And in Minnesota, our curb appeal doesn’t really look awesome until maybe mid-May.”
Huerkamp shares that the second quarter is also popular with families, as they don’t want to move their children during a school year. That mentality transfers to other areas of the market too, such as in Florida, where families still tend to sell in the spring and summer, according to Lanham.
Lanham notes that the best time to sell condos and vacation homes to out-of-towners is from Thanksgiving to Easter or Passover since it’s still warm in Florida but cold in other places.
“People are in town. They come from New York; they come from Canada; they come from Boston; they come from California, and they flood our beach areas,” says Lanham. “There’s nothing like having a lot of people here so that we can try to command the best price for the sellers.”
