Chart of the Day asks, "When is the best time of the year to buy or sell a home?"
The answer to that question could save you a significant amount of money. Timing your home purchase or sale has a significant impact on price.
click for larger chart
"To create this chart, we compared each month’s 1990-present
‘national’ average selling price to the entire 1990-present average to
determine if home prices carried a premium or discount for any given
month. As the chart shows, home buyers were willing to pay a
significant premium during the summer when the weather was generally
good and the kids were out of school."
Part of the reason for this is that parents prefer not to move kids mid-school year. If you can close no later than June or July, that allows you to have the kids in their new school from day one of the next school year.
This chart is tracking a false statistic if it measures the date of closing rather than the date of agreement of sale.
In my part of the country (Delaware), parties typically enter into a sales agreement six weeks to three months before closing. Those high prices in the summer actually reflect deals made in the spring.
Why does the labeling in chart contradict the text of the story and the box in the chart?
The chart shows discounts in the summer and premiums the rest of the year and the text says that the summer is premium season?
I can’t trust this
Are you from the southern hemisphere?