The property market changes with the seasons, but whilst there is a certain consensus for how good or bad it is to sell for most of the year, one troublesome month seems to cause a lot of confusion for estate agents, buyers and sellers alike.
For many sellers, the first two weeks are crucial to closing the perfect sale, and therefore the best months are those when nothing else gets in the way.
Spring tends to be when people start looking in earnest for a new home most, whilst summer tends to see a downswing in interest as people get distracted by holidays and events over the brightest point of the year.
December, on the other hand, tends to be the month that leads to the most turmoil amongst estate agents about whether it is best to get your home on the market in turbulent conditions, or wait and see when interest is typically stronger.
The big issue with December house listings is the obvious; people are really busy around the festive season, with Christmas and other holidays and related festivities dragging people far away from the market.
This includes agents and conveyances themselves, who typically wind down as December goes on. This means that a property tends to stay on the market for longer, leading to a risk of it becoming “stale”, losing interest and leading to concerns from potential buyers.
On the other hand, there is at least one day when all of this is reversed: Boxing Day.
The day after Christmas is a huge day for people to look at potential properties and start to make plans to move home, scanning the market during a day typically associated with rest and relaxation and looking for the best finds.
This, along with the quality of buyers in December being improved, means that it can sometimes be worth risking limited visibility to find a lot of interest come January.
