APRIL SHOWERS

BRING A SEASONAL SALES PREMIUM IF YOU SELL YOUR HOUSE IN MAY.

Real estate is not just about location, location, location. It’s also about timing, timing, timing.

Whereas location matters in real estate outcomes, the fact remains that a seller can do nothing to improve the location of an existing property. The same is not true for timing. Recent research has shown that sellers can optimize their returns on housing sales by picking the most opportune time to list and sell a property.

And the best time to sell, for many jurisdictions across North America, is May. As temperatures in many parts of Canada finally start to rise after a muted spring, enthusiasm and hope are also rising among real estate buyers and sellers. For those sitting on the fence wondering when to list, the time is now.

The research arm of Zillow. com crunched large amounts of data in the U.S. and found that the “first half of May is the best time to list a home for sale to maximize sale price and minimize time on the market.” How big is the payoff? Selling in May gets sellers approximately US$2,400 more than listing the property at other times. Furthermore, houses sell two weeks sooner in early May on average than at other times.

There is, of course, variance in the timing premium, which ranges from a high of US$15,300 in San Francisco (for late April sales) to a low of US$1,700 in Pittsburgh (in late March).

While the timing payoff might be small in Pittsburgh, the speed of sales there serves as compensation: homes listed in late March, on average, sold 19.3 days sooner than at other times.

If early May is, in general, the best time to list your house, is there a best day to list? Across the U.S., Zillow found the best day to list was Saturday. For large local markets in the U.S., other “best days” included Friday and Sunday.

Recently released research from ATTOM Data Solutions, a firm specializing in real estate analytics, also found May to be the best month to sell.

However, the best single day of the year to sell a house in the U.S. wasJune28.

ATTOM analyzed 14.7 million sales from 2011 to 2017 in the U.S. to conclude that May resulted in the highest premium of 5.9-percent above the estimated market value. However, the average premium jumped to 9.1 per cent above the estimated market value on June 28.

Weather and consumer sentiment have a lot to do with housing sales volumes. Cold and wet weather is correlated with slower housing sales. The presence of seasonality in real estate markets, with sales rising in summer months and falling in winter months, is a well-established fact in Canada.

Anomalous weather, for example, an unexpected cold or wet spell, could also spill water on housing markets, as it did it last May in Toronto. While the housing markets were shaken up by new tax regulations announced in April 2017 and the turbulence at Home Capital, a large mortgage broker, heavy rains and flooding across the region made matters worse.

Toronto received 157 mm of precipitation last May compared to just 25 mm in May 2016, and housing sales fell by 23 per cent yearover-year.

Housing experts cite several reasons why sales and prices are higher in early summer than in other months. The cold winter months, when snow piles up in curb lanes and in front of houses, are not ideal for visiting or inspecting properties. If roofs and alleyways are also covered with snow, home inspectors may be unable to vouch for a home’s structural integrity.

As the snow melts away and buyers shake off the winter blues, the pent-up demand for housing purchases is realized in early summer. Furthermore, houses show better with leaves on trees and green grass spread across the lawns.

Smart sellers must, therefore, add timing to the location mantra. Whereas sellers cannot pick a better location for their homes, they may pick a better time to sell.