Is there a good time of year to sell your home? To answer this age-old question, we decided to load up Excel, extract sales data from the Land Registry, and run some fancy calculations against the dataset. Before we get into the findings of our data, we should mention that the reason we’ve analysed Land Registry data is that they report on sales within 30 days of the property changing hands, so it provides a reasonable and accurate assessment of when each property was sold.
So, without further ado, let’s take a look at sales volumes throughout the year
Sales Volumes
A more fluid and liquid market means that people find it easier to sell properties, which means sales volumes will be higher. The graph below takes a look at the last 10 years of sales volumes.
As you can see, sales volumes tend to be cyclical, with large numbers of properties being registered as sold in the summer months and December and January typically being the weaker months. There are some interesting spikes: the spike for March 2016 is due to a large volume of second homes being bought and registered to avoid the extra stamp duty that became mandatory in April of that year. In addition, March 2009 was a particular poor month mainly because of the recent financial crisis, but the data shows sales volumes gradually bouncing back over the next few years.
Average Price
The next stage in our data analysis took us to average prices per month, which gives an idea of whether higher sales volumes mean higher prices, or whether it means that gluts in the market forces pricing down.
Again, here we can see substantial seasonal variances, with peaks occurring during the summer months and then dropping in the winter months.
So, When Should You Sell Your House?
Based on the data above, the ideal selling time seems to be around August, which means you need to put your house onto the market around May or June time to get the best price and the highest chance of selling your home. primarily this is because families are looking to complete transactions before the summer holidays, and – more importantly – be able to register their children for the local schools. Moving home is a major disruption, and it’s easier to do so when you don’t have to worry about school runs and so on.
In addition, a large proportion of children are born in September and October, so expectant families often find that they need to move to larger houses to accommodate their future little ones.
It’s also more pleasant to move during the summer months, as there’s a somewhat lower chance of rain — although this being Britain, you can never guarantee it.
So, the key takeaway is that to get the best price, get your house and finances ready for April or May, and plan to exchange contracts by August.
