February & March are the best months to list a home for sale

• February and March are the best months to list a home for sale, based on the likelihood the home goes on to successfully complete, closely followed by April and January
• Nearly seven in 10 homes (66.3%) listed for sale in February and March since 2012 go on to complete the sale, the joint-highest months of the year
• In an encouraging start to the year for buyer activity, buyer demand is up by 8% compared with the same period last year, and the number of sales being agreed is up by 15%

New analysis from the UK’s biggest property website Rightmove, reveals that February and March are typically the best months to list a home for sale, based on the likelihood that the home goes on to sell successfully.

The analysis looked at millions of properties listed for sale since 2012, excluding 2020 due to the pandemic.

Nearly seven in 10 homes (66.3%) listed for sale in February and March since 2012 go on to complete a sale, the most out of any month.

February also has the joint quickest time to find a buyer on average historically, alongside January, at 51 days for a typical home to find a buyer, closely followed by March and April at 52 days.

In good news for those who have already come to market or are perhaps thinking about coming to market a little later this year, April and January are just fractionally behind February and March as the best months to list a home based on the likelihood to complete.

It has been an encouraging start to the year for buyer activity, which is positive news for sellers considering coming to market.

After the first full month of the year, the number of potential buyers contacting agents about homes for sale is up by 8% compared with the same period last year, and the number of sales being agreed is up by 15%.

Steve Pimblett, Chief Data Officer at Rightmove, comments: “These insights should make for encouraging reading for anyone thinking of listing their home for sale soon, as well as anyone who has already come to market this year. The Spring Selling season is traditionally one of the busiest periods of the year for agents, and the signs of buyer activity we’ve been seeing are setting the scene for a positive one this year.”

Ben Hudson, Managing Director at Hudson Moody in York says: “To give yourself the best chance of a successful sale, it’s really important to present your home at its best. It may sound obvious, but clean up, de-clutter and make sure any obvious defects are put right before the photos are taken and viewers start coming round.

 “Kerb appeal is very important as when people arrive to view your property, and walk past it on the street or drive past it in a car they will form some kind of impression of your home. The more attractive you can make it look on the outside, the more likely people are to want to come inside.

 “Small touches like tidying up the front garden and mowing the lawn can send out the message that your home is easy to maintain and well-kept, which will delight some buyers who might not have the time to spend on household chores.

 “The obvious things such as putting on lights to show the house well, putting the heating on, and making sure it smells fresh and clean is also important for comfortable viewings, leaving potential buyers with the right impression.”

ENDS

 About Rightmove

• Rightmove has the UK’s largest selection of properties for sale and to rent, adds more listings than anyone else, and over 80% of all time spent on property portals is on Rightmove.
• Rightmove’s vision is to give everyone the belief that they can make their move by giving people the best place to turn and return to for access to tools and expertise to make it happen.
• People can search Rightmove for residential resale, new homes, rentals, commercial property and overseas properties and use tools and information including getting a Mortgage in Principle, checking local sold prices, property valuations, market trends, maps and schools.
• Customers include the following key groups: estate agents, lettings agents, new homes developers, rental operators, commercial property operators and overseas property agents.
• Using the UK’s largest housing datasets, we issue a number of regular reports to track housing market indicators: our monthly House Price Index (established 2002), our quarterly Rental Trends Tracker (established 2015), a weekly Mortgage Rates Tracker (established 2023) and a quarterly Commercial Insights Tracker (2024). Historical data is available on request.
• Founded in 2000, Rightmove listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2006 and is a member of the FTSE 100 index.
• For more information, please visit rightmove.co.uk/claims