Best Season of the Year to Buy a Home
Best Season of the Year to Buy a Home
Have you ever heard people say, “It’s a buyer’s market,” or “It’s a seller’s market”?
Traditionally, buyers gain an upper hand during economic booms while sellers benefit the most during economic recessions.
But did you know that the real estate market also experiences seasonal highs and lows throughout the year?
What is the Best Season to Buy a Home?
Winter
Wintertime tends to be a slow season in the real estate market as a whole.
Cold weather keeps buyers at home. They feel no motivation to shop in bitter winds, icy rains, dreary nights, or snowy gails. Combine that with the stress that winter holidays often bring, and you are left with home buyers with no time or energy to look for houses or move into them.
Winter often leaves sellers unmotivated and stressed, too. They lose energy to tackle home improvements, and they have no time to host open houses. Additionally, bare plants and dark days reduce a home’s curb appeal.
Spring
The fairer weather and longer daytime hours of the spring season motivate people to emerge from winter hibernation, and the end of school and sports give them more free time.
That gives buyers time and energy to shop for their dream homes so they can move in and decorate over the summer.
It also motivates sellers to get their houses ready for sale. You will see many making home improvements, refreshing flower beds and landscapes, decluttering, packing, and hosting open houses.
The resulting flood of buyers and sellers in the spring boosts the real estate market into overdrive.
Buyers are excited about new and numerous inventory options, and sellers are hopeful that buyer demand will create competition that leads to bidding wars that drive up purchase prices, and THAT is what makes Spring the ideal season for sellers.
Summer
As the most popular season for vacations and getaways, Summertime often levels out the real estate surge that occurs in the spring.
Many buyers who began their house hunts in the spring are still looking for the “right” homes, and many sellers are just now finishing-up home preparation projects they started in the spring.
Those overflow buyers and sellers keep the real estate market strong and stable when the heat and humidity of Summertime settle in. However, the lure of relaxation and retreat while family members have fewer scheduled commitments causes the previous season’s boom to fizzle into a tenacious rumble.
Fall
By the time leaves start painting landscapes vivid colors of red, orange and yellow in the Fall, people are back in their regularly scheduled routines.
People’s days are filled up with work, school, team practices, homework, meetings, and more. Their weekends often involve tailgating & football games, hiking & camping, bike riding & picnics, Fall festivals & hayrides, and pumpkin patches & corn mazes.
The surplus of activities signals the end of the real estate market’s busy season because people are no longer focused on shopping for houses or prepping their houses.
The limited number of houses still available for sale limits buyer supply options, but the decreased amount of people demanding houses increases their chances of getting a better deal if they do find a house.
Sellers want to get rid of their houses before the market “dies” in the Winter, so they often cut their purchase prices or become more willing to negotiate with buyers. So if buyers find their dream houses in the Fall, they usually get better deals than they can in any other season. THAT makes Fall the ideal season for buyers.
And the Winner Is…
...The Spring: If you want lots of inventory options, fewer demands on your schedule, and ample time to move-in, your best season of the year to buy a home is the Spring.
...The Fall: If you would rather pay less and get more, then your best season of the year to buy a home is the Fall.
Yearly trends reveal that the real estate market is busiest in the Spring and slowest in the Winter. But if you are buying a house, your needs and wants (not market trends) determine which season of the year will be best for you.
If the thought of buying a house brings you more anxiety than excitement, we at eHome can help! We have created a Home Education Course to take fear out of your home buying process, so when Spring or Fall comes, you will be ready!
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