It's still a rough time in the housing market for many Americans, between steeper mortgage rates and limited housing supply. Yet despite the lingering "low-rate house arrest" effect, home sellers have more to smile about than buyers. Those planning to sell their property by the end of 2024 won't want to miss the upcoming sweet spot, revealed in a new report from Realtor.com.
The top week to sell a home this year
Realtor.com combed through its deep vault of home listing data since 2018 to determine the best week for sellers to make their move in 2024. They chose the "best week" by identifying an ideal blend of market conditions that should give sellers a significant leg up, compared to the rest of the year.
The factors considered include seller competition, listing prices, days on market, price reductions, and homebuyer demand. Notably, this calculation does not include mortgage rates, because they are not typically tied to seasonal selling and buying trends.
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The Realtor.com team projects that the week of April 14-20 represents home sellers' best combo of market conditions for the remainder of 2024. These five factors make this time frame a homeowner's ideal selling window:
- The week of April 14-20 should have 40% less inventory compared to pre-pandemic levels, and 13.7% fewer than an average week in 2024.
- This week also sees 22.8% more buyer views per listing than the average week.
- Realtor.com expects this week to feature 17% faster home sales vs. the average week.
- Listing prices are $34,000 higher than at the start of 2024.
- 24.6% fewer homes feature price reductions compared to an average week.
Key next steps for home sellers
Report author Hannah Jones notes that spring is generally the high season for real estate activity, with a higher population of active buyers than later in the year. Realtor.com's data shows that 53% of home sellers need a few weeks to a month to get their home ready to list. Motivated sellers should start their preparations now in order to benefit from this spring's ideal market conditions.
Consider the following steps to get your home ready for its closeup:
The report also acknowledges the trend of homeowners feeling “locked in” at their current residence, hesitant to trade a below-4% mortgage for a 7%+ mortgage on a new home elsewhere. This was a major factor in keeping home listings low throughout 2023, according to Realtor.com's data.
The Federal Reserve has signaled it may cut interest rates this year, but a string of stubbornly-high inflation reports has seemingly pushed those plans further back than originally predicted. Homeowners intent on selling now may have to contend with elevated mortgage rates for a while longer. It could be that renting is smarter than buying for successful sellers in the short term, at least until the mortgage landscape improves.
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