Selling in Spring in the Dandenong Ranges

Selling in Spring, is it really the best time for you to sell your home?

Spring technically begins in September. We know that. Gardens in the Dandenongs are looking superb, awash with colour, fresh green grass and new foliage. 

A recent article in a real estate industry magazine declares that November is the time that sellers are rewarded the most or achieve higher prices. 

“According to research from PropTrack, which looked at property prices from 2013 to 2022, November has been proven to be the best time to sell, with sellers achieving prices 0.8 per cent higher than average during the peak of spring.”

Spring attracts a higher number of homes on the market traditionally. Spring is the season of new growth and new beginnings and I suppose that after a long, cold, wet winter, different climes beckon. We may not be sold and settled by Christmas but a January move in date is not out of the question. 

HINT, SELLING IN SPRING AND SETTLING AT CHRISTMAS

A hint that if you are thinking to settle and move into your new home between Christmas and New Year then I suggest you think again. Most conveyancers are away and banks operate on skeleton staff, removalists may also be a problem. Check the dates on your Contract as there are a number of public holidays that will interfere with cooling off and special conditions. 

NEXT BEST TIME FOR SELLING

March is apparently next on the list with home buyers out in force similarly to November. Quieter times are peak Winter months of June and July. Having said that, when I was in real estate sales I often had my best months in March, July and October. Buyers may not be out and about physically but they are usually already trawling the real estate sites, testing and researching what is available. 

Of course, the article notes, these stats vary from state to state, city to city. 

Home prices are apparently also back to their peak after 9 months of consecutive growth. Increasing auction numbers support this although September was not as strong as anticipated with corresponding interruptions of school holidays and Grand Finals (both AFL and the other mob, NRL?). 

Getting your home ready to sell can be a huge challenge, often depending on how long you have been in your home and whether you are quick to discard or like to hang on to things. 

My family typically stays put for long periods of time, we are a combination of never-sellers and infrequent-sellers. Clearing out takes time. We had intended to be on the market in August 2023 and clearly, that is not going to happen now. Maybe we should aim for March 2024 instead?

SELLING IS A NUMBERS GAME

2022 compared to 2023 in the area that I specialise in (from Kalorama to Ferny Creek and then across to Kallista through to Monbulk) has shown some interesting numbers. In 2022 there were 20 homes listed in September and in 2023 there were 15 homes new to the market (my own records). Sellers have been reluctant, and slow to start although there are more homes coming onto the market each day, dribbling in rather than en masse. October 2023 has seen 21 homes (including land) compared to 20 in 2022. There is rarely a great deal of variance from year to year regardless of the economy or other external factors. 

Some homes linger longer than others, some sell super fast (usually unique homes or priced to sell), some are taken off the market and some sell off market. Others have been on the market for well over a year as sellers wait for a price. It depends on the motivation of the seller.

Agents will encourage sellers to sell quickly. There is some wisdom to this. A home new to the market will attract the eyes of everyone looking in the area and after the initial flush, numbers will begin to taper off to those who either hadn’t looked at the home previously, had been interested in another home, had taken another look due to a price, copy or main photo change or for some other reason. It also works for the selling agent – the quicker they sell a home, the quicker they get the home off their books and inspection lists, and the quicker they get paid. Each agent and each agency is different.