Seasonality plays a role, but a broker at Zander Realty Group said high mortgage rates have been the most important factor for sellers.
By Victor Stefanescu
When’s the best time to list your home for sale? According to a new Zillow analysis, it’s shifted.
The online real estate marketplace reported on March 7 that homes listed in the first two weeks of June 2023 sold for 2.3% more than the typical property. This period has been shifting to later in the year since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the online marketplace.
While seasonality plays a role, said Kyle Zene-Moore, broker and CEO of Zander Realty Group, climbing mortgage rates have been the most important factors for sellers in the past few years.
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“I’d say over the last year and a half, the people that have moved are the ones that really need to move,” said Zene-Moore, who’s also a director at the Greater Boston Association of Realtors. “If you’re looking at it from a financial standpoint, if your mortgage rate is 4%, you’re not going to just change it and go get a 7 or 8% mortgage because you feel like it.”
In metro Boston, the best period to list in 2023 occurred a few weeks earlier than in the nation overall, during the second half of May, according to Zillow. During this period, Boston sellers listing their homes received 3.5% more than those selling the typical home: a $23,600 boost, Zillow reported.
“Boston, along with other NE markets, are not seeing the same increase in new listings as elsewhere in the country, keeping the competition in homes and potentially ensuring an earlier season than elsewhere,” Skylar Olsen, Zillow’s chief economist, said in an email to Boston.com
Bonnie Lai, a team leader for the luxe home team at RE/Max and director at the Greater Boston Association of Realtors, said during normal times, seasonality affects when sellers could receive a boost.
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“In the past few years, we have had some really drastic events, like COVID, like the mortgage rates going, changing so rapidly. Those are the reasons why seasonality is not applying as much,” said Lai, who was also the 2023 president of the Women’s Council of Realtors | Greater Boston and Central. “And so it depends how much the rate is really adjusting down.”
Zillow said the best time for sellers in the United States to list took place a month later in 2023 compared with 2019. In June 2023, mortgage rates dropped from 6.79% to 6.67% on a 30-year fixed loan, which may have made buyers more comfortable to make offers, the company said.
| METRO | BEST TIME TO LIST | PRICE PREMIUM | DOLLAR BOOST |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | First half of June | 2.3% | $7,700 |
| New York City | First half of July | 2.4% | $15,500 |
| Los Angeles | First half of May | 4.1% | $39,300 |
| Chicago | First half of June | 2.8% | $8,800 |
| Dallas | First half of June | 2.5% | $9,200 |
| Houston | Second half of April | 2.0% | $6,200 |
| District of Columbia | Second half of June | 2.2% | $12,700 |
| Philadelphia | First half of July | 2.4% | $8,200 |
| Miami | First half of June | 2.3% | $12,900 |
| Atlanta | Second half of June | 2.3% | $8,700 |
| Boston | Second half of May | 3.5% | $23,600 |
| Phoenix | First half of June | 3.2% | $14,700 |
| San Francisco | Second half of February | 4.2% | $50,300 |
| Riverside, Calif. | First half of May | 2.7% | $15,600 |
| Detroit | First half of July | 3.3% | $7,900 |
| Seattle | First half of June | 4.3% | $31,500 |
| Minneapolis | Second half of May | 3.7% | $13,400 |
| San Diego | Second half of April | 3.1% | $29,600 |
| Tampa | Second half of June | 2.1% | $8,000 |
| Denver | Second half of May | 2.9% | $16,900 |
| Baltimore | First half of July | 2.2% | $8,200 |
| St. Louis | First half of June | 2.9% | $7,000 |
| Orlando | First half of June | 2.2% | $8,700 |
| Charlotte, N.C. | Second half of May | 3.0% | $11,000 |
| San Antonio | First half of June | 1.9% | $5,400 |
| Portland, Ore. | Second half of April | 2.6% | $14,300 |
| Sacramento | First half of June | 3.2% | $17,900 |
| Pittsburgh | Second half of June | 2.3% | $4,700 |
| Cincinnati | Second half of April | 2.7% | $7,500 |
| Austin, Texas | Second half of May | 2.8% | $12,600 |
| Las Vegas | First half of June | 3.4% | $14,600 |
| Kansas City, Mo. | Second half of May | 2.5% | $7,300 |
| Columbus, Ohio | Second half of June | 3.3% | $10,400 |
| Indianapolis | First half of July | 3.0% | $8,100 |
| Cleveland | First half of July | 3.4% | $7,400 |
| San Jose, Calif. | First half of June | 5.5% | $88,400 |
Out of 35 of the United States’ largest metro areas, Boston buyers had the sixth-largest boost ($23,600) when they listed during the metropolitan area’s optimal two-week period.
Lai said conditions are different this year than last, and even now, sellers can expect very good offers for their homes. She said buyers have become more comfortable putting down offers amid high mortgage rates, and inventory remains low, which means the best turn-key homes are selling fast.
“The buyer’s already willing to start bidding pretty aggressively at this point,” Lai said. “We’re going back to the kind of market in the 2021 time where people [are] overbidding, waiving contingency at this point already.”
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Olsen said in the report that it’s likely that interest rate cuts won’t come until the summer, which may mean buyers’ interest could surge later in the year.
Last week, the Associated Press reported that mortgage rates had dropped for the first time in five weeks, and the Federal Reserve chair said rate cuts are likely to begin this year after the central bank sees evidence of cooling inflation.That evidence On Thursday, the AP reported that inflation rose in February, calling it the “latest sign that price pressures remain elevated.”
The decrease can affect selling, Zene-Moore said. As rates fell from 7% to 6.8%, a house priced at $700,000 last week could receive an offer of $730,000 this week, he said, “because now [buyers] have more confidence that their money will stretch a little bit further, and they don’t want to get beat out because there’s still not enough homes for sale.”
Aside from holding off for warming weather, sellers ready for a move should prepare for appraisal gaps, anticipate high moving costs, and even double-check that they have the right bank account, Boston.com reported in February.
Olsen said it’s important that sellers create a good digital presence for their homes, as the share of prospective buyers crossing state lines for a property has increased in the past few years.
Zene-Moore said sellers should get a real estate team that has its finger on the “pulse on what’s going on.” And Lai said it’s also important that sellers make their homes move-in ready and price them as competitively as possible by talking to real estate agents — and not relying on online estimates.
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“A lot of sellers are failing in selling their home … because they keep relying on those unreliable estimates, and that is the biggest downfall,” Lai said. “It’s because they don’t understand the market like we do.”
More on home selling
- 8 things homeowners should do to prepare financially for the sale of their home
- Investors snagged 1 in 5 homes for sale in Greater Boston, worsening housing crisis, report finds
- What kind of income does it take to buy a starter home in Boston — and beyond?
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