Looking to sell your house this year? Now’s the time to do it. Find out the best day of the week to list your house in order to sell quickly for the best price.
Did you know that the day of the week you list your home for sale can have an impact on how long it stays on the market and what it eventually sells for? It’s no secret that in 2021, the housing market is over-the-top competitive and houses are selling in days, not weeks, and Zillow took a look at what the best and worst days to list are. So, drumroll, please … Zillow’s new analysis says that homes listed on a Thursday sell faster on average and are more likely to sell above the list price than those listed on any other day of the week, all else being equal. The study also showed that Sunday is actually the worst day, with houses sitting on the market the longest — eight days longer than Thursdays — and homes listed on Saturday and Monday aren’t much better, they tend to sit on the market seven days longer than those listed on Thursdays.
“Because home shopping and open houses are most common later in the week and on weekends, homes listed later in the week will catch the eye of home shoppers planning out their in-person home tours,” Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale says. “These shoppers tend to make offers quickly in this fast-moving housing market, and sellers typically consider them and select one early the following week. The key thing is to work with your local real estate agent, because they’ll know best whether your market follows these national trends or not.”
Let’s Talk Dollars
Thursday listings are also the most likely to sell for more money, according to Zillow’s research, which shows that homes listed on a Thursday are more likely to sell above their asking price than those listed on any other day of the week. (Again, they found that homes listed on Sunday were the least likely to sell above list price.) With homes selling so quickly, a home sitting too long could indicate to potential buyers that they should ask for a discount or that something may be wrong with the house. And although a few days really shouldn’t make a difference, consider that in today’s real estate climate, half of all homes put up for sale are selling within a week of being put on the market. It’s enough to make your head spin.
Okay, So Tell Me More About Thursdays
The Zillow analysis also recommends when to list your home this year, and the answer is pretty simple — now. While this spring and early summer selling season has not looked that different from the rest of the year (given that the market has stayed red-hot through traditional slow periods) Zillow recommends listing your home before Labor Day — that is, before September — based on historical market trends.
Pre-pandemic, spring was typically the best time of year to list a home for sale. In 2019, homes listed during the weeks of March 11 and 18 had the fastest sales. And, traditionally, Labor Day has marked the end of the home shopping season, and a time when homes tend to sit on the market the longest. In 2019, the worst time to list for those looking for an above-list price sale were the weeks of October 14 and 21.
“The real estate market definitely follows a monthly and weekly rhythm,” Hale says. “These are in addition to the widely known seasonal patterns — such as more homes for sale, especially larger, family-friendly homes in spring and summer for families looking to move over the summer with minimal disruption to children’s school calendars.”
However, today’s housing market is anything but typical. Buyer demand has pushed homes to sell faster, even through what are traditionally slower months. Homes typically take a few days longer to sell in the winter, but that pattern was reversed last year. The market has picked up the pace even more since then, and the share of sales happening above list price is more than double what it was pre-pandemic.
“The housing market has had its foot on the gas since last summer, never entering its usual winter hibernation,” Zillow Group Economist Nancy Wu says. “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.”
And it seems that sellers are already catching on to this trend — 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, Oregon, where more than a third of homes are listed on a Thursday, and just 13% of homes are listed on a weekend. If you’re ready to sell but need a little bit more information, check out our Real Estate page for tips on selling + buying and so much more. You got this!
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