When is the best time of year to buy a home?
RealtyTrac took a big data approach to the question and analyzed 32 million single-family home and condo sales over the past 15 years. They compared average sale prices to average estimated market value at the time of sale to determine whether buyers paid a premium or bought their home at a discount. They then broke down the data by month, weekday and day to see which buyers received the biggest discounts based on listing prices.
Florida discount days
- Cape Coral-Fort Myers: The best day of the year is May 28, when buyers’ closing price was an average 22% discount off the original asking price.
- Lakeland: The best day of the year is Jan. 21, when buyers’ closing price was an average 16% discount off the original asking price.
- Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach: The best day of the year is Dec. 31, when buyers’ closing price was an average 13% discount off the original asking price.
- Orlando-Kissimmee: The best day of the year is Oct. 1, when buyers’ closing price was an average 11% discount off the original asking price.
- Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville: The best day of the year is Oct. 8, when buyers’ closing price was an average 20% discount off the original asking price.
- Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice: The best day of the year is Jan. 2, when buyers’ closing price was an average 15% discount off the original asking price.
- Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater: The best day of the year is Oct. 29, when buyers’ closing price was an average 12% discount off the original asking price.
“The end of the school year and summer break accelerates our South Florida closings in the spring and summer months,” says Mike Pappas, CEO and president of the Keyes Company in South Florida. “Historically, we close 60 percent of our sales in the second and third quarter of each year. Traffic is lower during the holidays and therefore January and February are our lowest closing months.”
National overview
October is the best month to close
- Over the last 15 years, October buyers realized an average discount of 2.6% below full estimated market value at the time of sale.
- Following October, the best months to buy were February, July, December and January.
- The worst month of the year to close is April, when buyers over the last 15 years have purchased at an average premium of 1.2% above estimated market value at the time of sale.
Monday is the best weekday to close
- Over the last 15 years, Monday buyers saw an average discount of 2.3% below full estimated market value at the time of sale.
- Friday is the second-best weekday to close on a home purchase, and buyers realized an average discount of 2.0%.
- Thursday is the worst day of the week to buy a home, with a 1.0% average discount, followed by Wednesday (1.4% discount) and Tuesday (1.9% discount).
Oct. 8 is the best day of the year to close
- After removing holidays such as Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, Veteran’s Day and July 4, the analysis found that buyers who closed on Oct. 8 realized the biggest average discount – 10.8 percent below estimated market value at time of sale.
- After Oct. 8, the best days of the year to close on a purchase of a home were Nov. 26 (10.1% discount), Dec. 31 (9.7%), Oct. 22 (9.6%), and Oct. 15 (9.1%).
- The worst day of the year to close on a purchase of a home was Jan. 19, when buyers paid an average 9.6% premium above estimated market value at time of sale, followed by Feb. 16 (9.5% premium), Apr. 20 (9.5% premium), Apr. 6 (8.4% premium) and Apr. 27 (8.2% premium).
For more details, check RealtyTrac’s interactive map posted online.
© 2015 Florida Realtors®