Zillow: Best month to list home in area is February
Traditionally, the best time to put a home on the market is in the spring, when many families start looking to move. But in the San Francisco metropolitan area, homeowners looking to get the best deal for their property should be planning to list months earlier.
That’s according to a new report from real estate brokerage site Zillow, which found that the second half of February is the best time to list a home in the San Francisco metro area. The typical home listed during that period went for about 4.2% higher, around $50,000, more than usual.
That was the earliest prime period for any metro area Zillow analyzed, using sales data from 2023. In most regions, including the San Jose metro area, the ideal time to list a home is from May to July.
San Jose metro area homes listed during the ideal time, the first half of June, had the largest bonus — 5.5%, or about $88,000 — of any region Zillow analyzed. The area has become a particularly hot market, with San Jose’s home values increasing at one of the fastest rates of California’s largest cities, as homebuyers compete for a limited housing stock in the region’s suburbs.
That “persistently limited inventory” has meant peak selling time in many metro areas now hinges greatly on mortgage rate changes, according to Zillow, rather than purely on seasonal trends that saw more homes for sale as the weather became warmer. And because further rate drops probably won’t come until at least mid-2024, Zillow said, the best time to list a home this year will probably be later than usual — around early June.
But in San Francisco, some real estate agents recommend listing in January or February, when an already very tight inventory is even smaller and overbidding is more likely.
Zillow’s report did not include metro-level information on when homes are typically the cheapest. Nationally, homes listed in November and December sold for 3% to 4% lower than usual. It’s during those months when demand for homes typically declines, as would-be homebuyers focus their attention on the holidays.