How to Figure Out the Best Time to Buy a Home
Kelly Allen
After attending Georgia College and State University, Kelly Allen decided it was time to pursue a new challenge: the wild world of residential Real Es...
After attending Georgia College and State University, Kelly Allen decided it was time to pursue a new challenge: the wild world of residential Real Es...
When is the best time to buy a home? The answer depends on your goals.
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When is the best time to buy a home?
In the pre-internet days, the best time to buy was usually right before Labor Day. After that, the selling season as a whole trended downward because people went back to work, school, etc. With more homes available to see online nowadays, though, buyers shop for homes throughout the entire year, which means sellers sell throughout the year, too.
Before I give my opinion on the best time to buy, I’ll share what other sources have to say regarding this topic and what their data shows.
According to Zillow, spring has the highest level of buyer competition, and it also yields the highest prices for sold properties. This makes sense—when demand is up, prices go up, too. They then concluded that the best time for buyers to get a better deal is late in the summer because there are fewer buyers to compete against but still a lot of inventory.
Realtor.com, meanwhile, contends that the first week of fall could be the best time for buyers to buy. Specifically, they found that this period has 25% less competition and 6% more listings compared to the weekly average. List prices also tend to be about 2.5% cheaper than their peak.
The Motley Fool also did a study that more or less confirmed what we already know: Home prices tend to peak in the warmer seasons and pull back during the cooler ones. Here in Atlanta, we have a milder climate, so this trend doesn’t affect us that much.
To figure out the best time to buy, focus on your goals and decide whether timing is important to you. Most buyers have some type of time frame in mind when buying. Also, what type of deal are you looking for? Once you know what time of year you want to buy, find all the inventory you can. If you work with the Kelly + Co. team, we’ll look at both active listings and properties that haven’t hit the market yet. We’ll do everything we can to find sellers in neighborhoods you love who might be thinking about selling. Finding all the inventory you can possibly look at will result in less competition and getting the best deal.
Remember, if you have any questions about this or any other real estate topic, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. My team and I would love to help you.