When is the best time to sell your house in the UK?

Selling a house in today’s market can be a nightmare – but knowing the best time to sell can save you a lot of hassle.

If you need to move house for the sake of work, or simply to be closer to family, you’re probably crossing your fingers and hoping to sell your home fast. Unfortunately, many vendors find themselves a little disheartened when their property ends up sitting on the market for months on end – especially if they’ve taken the time to make their house presentable and already had several viewings with no offers.

What many of these sellers don’t realise, however, is that the property market has high and low activity seasons, and if you want to sell fast, it’s worth paying attention.

Is it a good time to sell my house?

If you’re thinking of placing your home for sale in the next few weeks, you may want to consider holding off for a while as we’re about to enter the summer months – but why is this such a bad thing?

Put simply, the majority of Brits enjoy going on holiday in either July or August to ensure they get a nice sunny break from their everyday life. And consequently, are less likely to have the necessary funds for a mortgage deposit after splashing out for flights, accommodation and food. Plus, they’re unlikely to want to deal with the stress of a house sale while they’re supposed to be relaxing abroad.

Similarly, parents with young children are likely to find themselves swamped as schools close for the summer – and trying to look for a new place to live while finding things to keep their hyper-active infants busy is no mean feat. So, when is the best time to sell your house in the UK?

What’s the best month to sell your house in the UK?

When people begin the process of selling their home, they often ask themselves “how much are properties in my area?” in order to gauge the amount of profit they could make once the sale has gone through. What they often don’t realise is that the prices they research may have been deeply affected by the time they were originally placed on the market.

A house that has been placed for sale in summer, may fail to sell in the short-term due to a quiet market place – and the longer a house is on sale, the more suspicious buyers will be regarding its appeal. It is therefore quite possible that the house will have, at some point, been reduced in price before it was finally purchased.

So, when is the best time of year to sell a house? Traditionally, summer should be avoided for the reasons stated above. However, winter should also be avoided. During the winter time, the days are short and dark – making it hard for potential buyers to appreciate the effort you’ve made to make your home look inviting. For parents, the weeks leading up to the Christmas holidays are often an extremely busy time. And due to the festivities and gift purchases, their bank accounts are more likely to be running dry than in spring or autumn.

The best months to sell your house in the UK are always the same each year. If you wish to sell fast in the first half of the year, aim to put your house on sale at the end of March just in time for spring. At this time of year, the kids are in school, the days are starting to get longer and more importantly, there will be more buyers actively looking to purchase.

If, however, you were unable to get the house ready for spring, try holding off until mid-September. By this time, all the kids will have returned to school, there’s still enough warmth to encourage buyers to get out and look for a new home, and there’s enough time for them to complete on a sale and get settled before the countdown to Christmas starts.

When do most houses go on the market in the UK?

The busiest time for the UK housing market is always in spring. Maybe it’s the renewed enthusiasm that people enjoy as the temperatures climb, or maybe it’s just because of advice from a friend or colleague, but when buyers start looking for a new home – you want your house to be ready for viewings.

Another reason that spring tends to be the busiest time for house purchases is the competition. A buyer is more likely to successfully haggle the asking price of a house down if they have several options available to them, and buyers are usually worried that if they don’t accept an offer, they may end up waiting for months for another.

Luckily, if you have to sell a home and can’t afford to wait until spring or autumn, you can always use the services of house buying companies, who are willing to make generous offers all year round – even if you’ve had trouble selling in the past.

Hoping to sell during the quieter months? Why not ask National Homebuyers for advice, as we buy any house. Call 08000 443 911 or request a call back to find out how much you could get for your property.