REAL ESTATE Selling your home in 2024? Here’s why you should list it in June, according to Zillow

If you’re thinking of selling your home this year, you might want to do it in the first two weeks of June. 

U.S. sellers who listed their home during that time span in 2023 sold their homes for 2.3% more when compared to other months in the year, according to a new Zillow analysis. That works out to an additional $7,700 per home sale, on average.

Generally speaking, late spring and early summer are widely considered to be the best time to sell a home. “In many major cities, spring and summer will likely be the best times to list your homes for sale to maximize on exposure and the buyer pool,” says Nicole Beauchamp, an associate broker at Sotheby’s International Realty.

Zillow’s analysis of its 2023 listings supports this conclusion: Spring and summer months had a 0.5% to 1% increase in sales prices compared to the yearly average. Conversely, sales prices dropped by about 2% during winter months, compared to the yearly average.

June should be the standout month of 2024 too, Zillow experts expect.

In 2023, June was the best month to list a home, and 2024 looks ‘similar’

In the years leading up to the pandemic, early May was the sweet spot for sellers, according to Zillow. The recent shift to June is likely related to how mortgage rates affect demand for a limited supply of affordable homes. 

In 2023, 30-year fixed mortgage rates through May surged from 6.35% to 6.79%. The rapid rise in rates may have scared off buyers during that time span, the data suggests. However, in June 2023, those rates fell for most of the month from 6.79% to 6.67%, and the dip may have encouraged buyers.

The home-shopping season is expected to “follow a similar pattern” in 2024, meaning that June should be the best month to list a home, according to Zillow.

That’s largely due to the first in a series of mortgage rate cuts that’s widely expected in June.

Falling interest rates would reduce monthly mortgage costs, which could bring back some of the buyers previously squeezed out of the real estate market due to rising home prices. There’s no guarantee, though, that prices will increase this June, or that it will offer the best environment for sellers this year.

It’s worth mentioning that last year’s bump in sales price was not uniform across all real estate markets. In some major cities, April, May or July were the most lucrative for home sellers.

On average, though, June was the best month nationwide.

The size of the price premium varied too. Out of the 35 largest metro markets, San Jose had the biggest price premium of all cities, with a 5.5% bump in June that worked out to $88,400 extra per home. In contrast, San Antonio had a 1.9% increase in June, for $5,400 per home.

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