Would you put your house on the market now or wait until next year?

[WhereWorthing]

For various family reasons we've been slower than we wanted to be getting our house ready to market. We'd aimed for spring this year but we're only really ready now. What are the pros and cons of getting it onto the market now or waiting until the new year?

The market will fall off now as people usually want to be in a new home for Christmas , then it picks up around Easter time - I’d wait or you run the risk of it sitting on books for several months which doesn’t look good to buyers

The market has been quite quiet here, a market town in Wiltshire, but in the last week two properties in my road sold. One had been on 7 weeks and one a week. I was quite surprised to be honest as most people would like to complete before Xmas so this feels a bit late for that. Not sure if that helps.

Our agent told us that interest always picks up around Christmas 🤷‍♀️

Good luck, OP.

We are in the same position as you. I’ve noticed loads of houses going on the market since the election. Several agents have said to wait till the Spring. We are waiting till then unless we find a house we really want beforehand. Family houses don’t sell at this time of year apparently, and the in up to Xmas is always supposed to be slow, thought that doesn’t seem to be the case round here!

I am in a similar position - I am holding back till post Xmas and will get the house on the market for the New Year. Next weeks budget is creating uncertainty and the market is quite stagnant around here (North Bucks). Familes are not likely to be looking houses in the run up to Xmas. Tbh also not alot on the market in my search area either.

We put our house on the market 5 weeks ago and it’s now off market again. We didn’t have a lot of viewings (5) and no offers. We suspected now is the wrong time and we were right. There’s loads around us for sale too, from cheap to homes costing in the millions, and when you track all these properties, not very much is selling at all . And if it is selling, it’s taking 6 months or longer. We are going to try again in the new year. We aren’t desperate to sell though, so that might be different.

There was also not one property we wanted to view either so that also influenced our decision.

I think it depends on where you are. My in-laws had an offer on their house within a week and then where they are looking to buy, properties aren’t even getting to market. They’re under offer before the estate agents need to market them. They’ve had an offer accepted - had to offer full asking price and saw the property before it was marketed.

Wow where do they live?

Was going to ask this too. Things seem to have picked up a bit here, but nothing like a couple of years ago

We just went on two weeks ago. Had 4 viewings so far and yopa told us after the October holiday and Xmas it picks up a fair bit.

We went on the market end of sept and sold last week, so within 4 weeks. Our agent said it’s really busy in our area (midlands).

My DD is selling her late father's house. It went online last Tuesday and there were 7 viewings booked for today. The agent was dealing with it so she won't know how the viewings went for a few days.

To be fair, we bought when the market was ridiculous and every house we viewed had multiple over asking price offers. It’s a different climate now.

It’s a busy market here, as in there are multiple new properties coming on the market every day. Not much is actually selling though, across all price brackets.

We're waiting until April. In our case it's because we're waiting to see school allocations first but I'd wait even if we weren't.

We went on the market in January this year and I think it was part of the reason we struggled to sell. The market was dead then and by the time it picked up slightly in April/May, our house was already "stale". Next time we'll definitely wait for the market to be a bit more vibrant before we go on.

We’re in a very slow market which is part of the reason we’re holding off too. If the market here was hot we’d maybe not consider timing as much.

I am about to list Herts but agent has advised that even family houses in the most desirable streets are taking 6-9 months to sell. There’s lots of discounting. This area that went nuts in 2020-21 and then ppl overpaid for the houses and then for renovation works. It’s gone from being a relatively affordable area with good schools to London-priced with a school shortage. Ppl who want to go back to London can’t get out!

Serious buyers will be on the look out for a new home any time, except Christmas, perhaps. I'm pretty sure the festive period would be the quietest 1-2 weeks of the year in terms of house viewings.
End of October/ November is not traditionally a bad time to list. Perhaps list once the budget is out of the way as there seems to be a lot of worry about that. It does seem that the market is slow with lots of reductions in most areas though so you need to look at your particular area and see what is selling and for what price. A realistic asking price will obviously help if you need to sell.
You could wait until early Spring, traditionally the best time to sell, but I think a lot of other people have been holding off until Spring too so you may then face lots of competition. I also think the economy will be visible worse by then.

I would personally leave it until after the Budget to make a decision. If there is something in there that is encouraging to home buying I would list it straight after, if there isn’t I would leave it until the Spring.

Market town in Wiltshire, moving to a market town in Hampshire.

We need to buy before Spring so of course I'd say put it on the market now! Not everybody wants to wait until after Christmas to get the ball rolling...

Not much is selling because houses are overpriced. Lots of people are looking, but it doesn't make sense to pay half a million for a doer upper, for example. Sellers need to be more realistic and then buyers will come.

Yes, we also sold a property recently before we even got an estate agent involved so saved on those fees! The price was reasonable and it completed last week. 🙂

That entirely depends on location @YellowTambourine

In most parts of London for example 500k for a house would be cheap, even for a doer upper.

Not London, then. Most people don't live in London!

Just pointing out that it entirely depends on location whether half a million for a doer upper is overpriced or not.

London is an obvious example but there are other very expensive places in the UK where half a million for a house would not be overpriced so I think you are generalising too much.