- Homes listed on a Thursday sell faster and are more likely to sell above list price than those listed on any other day of the week.
- Nationally, 21% of homes are listed on a Thursday, and it’s as high as a third of homes in some markets.
- Persistent and sustainable buyer demand has kept the housing market moving quickly through what are usually slower months of the year, a potential signal that the typical seasonal patterns may be less prevalent moving forward.
With almost half of U.S. homes selling in less than a week this spring, it’s not unreasonable for many sellers to expect an ultra-fast sale in 2021. But when days matter, for those looking to shave even more time off their sale — and to potentially maximize proceeds — it’s best to consider putting their home on the market on a Thursday and to do so prior to Labor Day.
All else equal, homes listed on a Thursday typically go pending days faster than homes listed on any other day of the week, according to a Zillow analysis of listing and home sales data from 2019 (the last full year of data that is reliable and consistent with pre-pandemic seasonal trends). Shaving a long weekend off the time a home spends on the market may not sound like much, but does represent almost half of the typical time homes spent on the market in April (exactly one week).
On the other side of the coin, Sunday is the worst day to list for a quick sale. Homes listed on Sunday tended to stay on the market for 8 days longer than homes listed on Thursday. And the same day-of-the-week trends that apply to speed of sale also hold for sale price: Homes listed on Thursday were more likely to sell above ask, whereas homes listed on Sunday (and Saturday, too) were less likely to sell above ask. These are marginal changes, but when every day and dollar counts, marginal changes can still be meaningful ones.
Sellers may have caught on already — nationally, 21% of homes are listed on a Thursday, which is more than any other day of the week. The savviest sellers are in Seattle and Portland, where more than a third of homes are listed on a Thursday, the highest shares in the country among large markets. Only 13% of homes are listed on a weekend, which is less than any individual weekday.[1]
Seasonal Shifts
On average across the nation’s 25 largest markets in 2019, the weeks of March 11 and March 18 were the best weeks to list for speedy sales, with listings coming off the market faster than other weeks, respectively (again, all else equal). Listing in the week of April 22 gave sellers the highest chance of selling above asking price. The worst week to list for speed freaks in the last pre-pandemic year was the week ending Sept. 1 — Labor Day week (Labor Day fell on Sept. 2 that year), with homes selling slower than other weeks.
In general, Labor Day represents the traditional end to home shopping season (certainly not everywhere, though — both spring and fall are busy home shopping seasons in New York City, for example). Early-mid fall is a time when homes tend to sit on the market the longest as parents aim to be settled into their new home before their kids head back to school and housing market activity begins to slow in advance of the holiday season. Overall, the worst weeks of the year to sell for those looking to maximize gains were Oct. 14 and 21, with homes listed in that week in 2019 least likely to sell above ask.
Remember, though, that this analysis is based on more typical, smoother pre-pandemic 2019 data. 2020 threw a wrench in typical seasonal trends by pushing the peak home shopping season to later in the year after early pandemic freezes paused a lot of market activity in the spring months. The housing market has had its foot on the gas since last summer, never entering its usual winter hibernation. It remains an open question whether 2021 will bring a return to normalcy in that sense, but it’s likely that seasonality in the housing market will remain in some form, even if the changes from season-to-season are less dramatic than in the past.
Local Trends
Of course, real estate is local, and each market will have its own unique weeks and days of the week that are best/worst for selling quickly and/or for more money. In the New York City metro, for example, there is no virtually “best” time to list in order to maximize chances of selling above ask — homes in New York rarely sell above ask to begin with. Thus, springtime in NYC is merely the best time to list for the lowest likelihood of selling below ask.
Other coastal metros are highly seasonal. San Francisco, Sacramento and Boston are metros with large seasonal variation in terms of their likelihood to sell above ask — in all three markets, spring was the best time to list to maximize potential gains, while the holiday season was the worst. Meanwhile, homes listed in late summertime in many warmer metros — including Houston, Tampa, Atlanta and Dallas — typically spend the longest time on market.https://public.tableau.com/views/BestWeektoList2021/level?:embed=yes&:tabs=no&:toolbar=no&:revert=&:refresh=yes&:linktarget=&:showVizHome=no
Trends by Market Segment
On average, across the nation’s top 25 metros, the most expensive homes have the most variation in days on market when listed throughout different weeks of the year. A home in the top-third price tier listed for sale in mid-March can expect to come off the market faster than expected, while a similar home listed in early July or mid-to-late August is likely to be on the market more days than expected, a total difference in expected selling time of three weeks.
Meanwhile, the least-expensive homes have the most variation in terms of their likelihood to sell above ask. The least expensive homes were more likely to sell above ask when listed in April and less likely when listed in October. High demand for affordable homes in the spring — when younger parents on a tighter budget may be more likely to be in the market looking to secure a home prior to the return of school in the fall — could play a role in this phenomenon. https://public.tableau.com/views/BestWeektoList2021/tiers?:embed=yes&:tabs=no&:toolbar=no&:revert=&:refresh=yes&:linktarget=&:showVizHome=no
Putting it Together: Takeaways for Sellers
This cannot be said enough — timing the market is difficult, and ultimately the best time to sell a home is when it makes the most sense to do so for you, based on your and/or your family’s unique priorities. Working with a trusted and knowledgeable local real estate agent is the best way to ensure you’re appropriately navigating the intricacies of your market.
That said, here’s a few summary tips and things to keep in mind for sellers considering listing their home soon:
- Ask if you’re prioritizing speed or profit: Sellers should consider if they care about selling for the best price, or getting their homes off the market the quickest. If a seller is flexible on timeline but prioritizes selling for as high a price as they can get, there’s little need to try and game the market — timing makes only a marginal impact on how likely a home is to sell above ask.
- Avoid the fall stall: Sellers in a rush should act now to avoid the post-Labor Day blues. List that home this summer – on a Thursday! – and get it off the market before fall is here.
- 2021 Might Upend Typical Norms: For sellers who have to wait until later this year to list, that may not be so bad this year. In April, almost half (47 percent) of U.S. homes were on the market for less than a week before going pending. More than three quarters (76 percent) were on the market for less than a month. The market overall is moving incredibly fast, and has been pretty much non-stop since last summer. The importance of seasonality in the housing market may be fading somewhat.
[1] Data on the frequency of listings by day of the week and hour of the day is based on for-sale homes listed on Zillow between September 9, 2020 and May 25, 2021.
See original article here.