We had a homeowner from Greenham e-mail us the other day. She said she had been following our blog (the Newbury Property News Blog) for a while and wanted to pick my brain on when is the best time of the year to sell a property. Trying to calculate the best time to put your property on the market can often seem something akin to witchcraft and, whilst I would agree that there are particular times of the year that can prove more productive than others, there are plenty of factors that need to be taken into consideration.
Even if you are putting your property on the market, you don’t know how long it will take to find a buyer – no crystal ball to help with that one. At the moment, the latest set of figures for all 21 estate agents in Newbury and Thatcham, show the average length of time it takes from listing a property to the house being removed from the market (Exchange/Completion) for any Newbury property is as follows…
Detached 105 days
Semi 68 days
Terraced 59 days
Flat 163 days
Overall average 110 days
Incidentally the overall average for Downer & Co is 56 days
If we roll the clock back to January 2016, the overall average time it took to find a buyer (again using data from all of the 21 Newbury and Thatcham Estate Agents) was 150 days.
So, on the face of it, things have vastly improved over the last six months or so. Well, when I looked at the data going back to 2008, and every Spring since then, the average length of time it takes to sell a property drops between January and the Summer months, for it to rise on the run up to Christmas. For example ..
Winter 2008 – 143 days Summer 2008 – 117 days
and in more recent times …
Winter 2013 – 161 days Summer 2013 – 148 days
Winter 2014 – 159 days Summer 2014 – 138 days
Winter 2015 – 141 days Summer 2015 – 136 days
It comes down to personal choice as to when you place your property on the market. Children often affect the decision. On one side you might delay putting that for sale board in your front garden so you can move in the summer school holidays, but on the other side, you might want to move sooner to be in the catchment area of a preferred school, in plenty of time for the next academic year?
There are times of the year when it’s better to sell, and times when waiting a little longer can pay off in the long run. In a nutshell, I would say this is the way of the seasons ..WHEN THE MARKET?
Spring: Customarily there are more house-buyers as the Daffodils show themselves
Summer: Sellers may miss out on house-buyers being on holiday
Autumn: The enthusiasm for buying homes returns
Winter: Interest diminishes as festive period looms
What this means to buyers and landlord investors is that they often pick up a bargain in later months of the year, as there is less competition from owner occupiers. So, whilst there are better months to achieve a quicker sale, the only piece of advice I can give to every home owner and landlord in Newbury, is do the right thing for yourself, do your homework and buy (and sell) with both your head as well as your heart.
