Is it Better to Sell your Home in the New Year or Wait till Spring?
Some of my fellow Realtors have been posting recently about how it’s a better time list to your home in the New Year vs. Springtime because there is less competition (inventory). I am not one to believe everything I read so I did some real research and this is what I came up with.
Data Sources
For my research, I randomly chose seven towns in Monmouth and Ocean Counties with larger populations to analyze the data from the Monmouth Ocean Regional MLS.
The townships picked were Barnegat, Brick, Toms River, Howell, Freehold, Middletown & Tinton Falls with all residential home sales between $100k-$600k (the price range for the bulk of the sales).
The date ranges taken for the comparison is for homes listed in January – February 2017 and April – May 2017. Please note: Every effort was made to provide accurate information but is not guaranteed. Now let’s check out the results!The Results by the Numbers (2017)
Total Homes Listed:
- Jan-Feb: 1,317 Homes
- Apr-May: 1,865 Homes
Remarks: It is true that inventory grows substantially in the spring months (548 more homes listed or 40% increase)! But that is not the whole store…let’s dig a little deeper.
Total Homes that Sold:
- Jan-Feb: 899 Homes
- Apr-May: 1,237 Homes
Remarks: It is interesting to see that listing your in either range of months generated almost the same percentage of home sales (about 77% of homes listed did sell).
Days on the Market Before Sold:
- Jan-Feb: 55.7 Days
- Apr-May: 46.3 Days
Remarks: Even though the same percentage of homes sold, it did take homes listed in the earlier months an average of nine days more to sell. But wait till you see the next stat before you make your final decision!
Listed to Sold Price:
- Jan-Feb: 97.75% of List Price
- Apr-May: 95.97% of List Price
Remarks: Homes listed and sold in January/February sold at a higher price (even though it took on average more than a week longer) than homes listed and sold in Springtime.
Conclusion
Seeing the whole picture reveals some interesting facts. You can sell your home in the New Year just as successfully as Springtime, and you may get more money for it, but it might take a little longer to sell. So what should you do?
If you have the choice, I would suggest listing your home in the January/February months. Less inventory can help you sell especially if your home is not in perfect condition. Many sellers take a few months to prep and make their home to look like a model home you see in a magazine, and with 40% more inventory coming on the market in the Springtime, the sooner you sell your home, the better. Besides even if it doesn’t sell during the first few months of the year, you haven’t missed the Spring rush of new potential buyers.
