The weather is finally starting to warm up and the snow is melting. The clean-up from the cold and messy winter months has begun. Thus marks the beginning of one of the busiest times of year for the real estate market. If you speak to any real estate agent, they will tell you that there are two seasons when the market tends to “heat up”: spring and fall. Traditionally, these are considered the ideal times of year to sell a home. While it’s true that these seasons can see a dramatic increase in real estate activity, determining the best time to sell can be more complex than you may have originally thought.
Spring
Spring not only brings warmer weather, it brings blooms to gardens and leaves back onto trees, helping homes and neighbourhoods look their best. Warmer weather also encourages more foot traffic to open houses and private showings. It’s no wonder that more homes are put on the market in the spring than any other time of year. While spring can be an excellent time to sell your home, stiff competition means that they must look their best. Thankfully, pleasant weather makes spring the easiest time of year to make improvements and repairs that must be done to ensure a quick sale at the best possible price.
Fall
Fall is considered another ideal time of year to list a home. Everyone is back from summer vacation and back to school and work. The weather is still pleasant and the colours of changing foliage make for a nice backdrop. Real estate markets across Canada typically pick up at this time of year, encouraging sellers and buyers to enter the market.
Summer & Winter
Summer and winter are often dismissed as less than ideal times to sell as people switch into vacation and family mode, leaving town to enjoy the sunshine and great outdoors. This means that while demand for vacation homes, cottages and ski properties pick up, the market for conventional real estate markets often slow, giving buyers an advantage.
The Bigger Picture
While seasonality influences the real estate market, the reality is that there are many other things to consider before deciding whether it’s a good time of year to sell. These include:
- How the real estate market is doing in your immediate area. Ask your REALTOR® about pricing trends, listings inventory and demand in your neighbourhood. It may be that the market for homes like yours is red hot (or not), regardless of the season. This was the case for several Canadian cities such as Calgary and Toronto this past winter, where frigid winter weather did little to cool down strong real estate markets.
- Mortgage rates. The cost of borrowing can have a significant impact on your long term financial health, as well as the health of the overall real estate market. In Canada, interest rates have been at historic lows for several years and this has meant that both buyers and sellers have been entering the real estate market, regardless of the season.
- Economic factors. Unemployment rates, political stability, immigration rates, consumer debt levels and other economic factors are important influences on how real estate markets perform.
- Your personal circumstances. For many, work, school and family circumstances make it challenging to list, show and shop for homes during the spring and fall. Before dismissing the idea of selling your home over the summer or winter instead, it’s important to understand how your local market is actually doing. It may be that selling in the “off” season may work in your favour.
Spring 2014 This spring, Sotheby’s International Realty Canada is forecasting a strong real estate market in Canada’s largest urban centres, including Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto. Driven primarily by lack of inventory, home sales and prices in Vancouver are expected to rise slightly above the 10-year average with modest gains anticipated in the second quarter of the year. In Calgary, low levels of resale and rental inventory combined with strong consumer demand predict a continued trend of multiple offers, bidding wars and above-asking prices, especially for single family homes. Leading the country in international immigration, newcomers to Toronto will continue to fuel a real estate market already in short supply of rental and resale housing. Read more here in the Spring 2014 Housing and Economic Outlook. What time of year have you had the best luck selling or purchasing a new home?
Pssst… can you imagine spring in the spectacular backyard of this Toronto home?
