What is the WORST Month to Sell A House?
Real estate is a difficult industry, and that difficulty can be significantly amplified depending on when you decide to sell. The best time you can possibly sell a house is during the spring because people typically have more flexible schedules and the days are longer, but if you don’t have the luxury of selling during the best time, what time of year should you absolutely avoid?
There’s actually a lot of conflicting opinions on the worst month to sell a house, and it also varies state-by-state. Bankrate.com places December and October as the absolute worst months, with seller premiums hitting a low of 3.3% during these times.
SetSchedule.com asserts that the ending of each season is the worst time to sell. They then argue, that while these may be the most difficult times to sell, they may also be the most profitable because there’s little to no competition during these months. The article encourages sellers to look at their specific real estate market before deciding when to sell.
Luckily, the publication Therealestatetrainer.com provides a list of the best and worst months to sell by each state that you can find here. The nationwide best and worst according to this data is October and March, respectively.
March is Bad
The average house price drops by 1.3 percent in February compared with the January price and prices slump 3.8 percent, on average, in the first half of March compared with the last six months of the previous year.
October is Good
In October, houses may sell for $25,000 more than they did the month before.
Everyone’s real estate experience will be different, so while these trends may help some realtors in their selling process, it also may not be a bad idea to try selling during the “worst months”.