The house is a place of many memories that the residents of these houses have been collecting for years. These memories and a certain value remain forever within the four walls of the native house. Selling a house is always a difficult matter, not only emotionally, but also on a purely practical level. Sometimes it is a necessity, sometimes a desire to move on. In many cases, it is a matter of time and price, the need to sell the house as soon as possible or at the best possible price.
In addition to investing a lot of effort and time, selling a house requires knowledge, experience and understanding of the market. Including knowledge of how the market itself behaves in certain periods of the year and when the best time comes for the seller to enter this market. Never underestimate the importance of the season.
If you turn to statistics and the opinion of experts, for example from the National Institute of Statistics of Spain (INE), you can find out that the best period for the sale of housing is the first quarter of the year — January-March months. In particular, it is worth noting January. INE specialists conducted a large-scale market research from 2007 to 2020 and came to the conclusion that it is the first month of the year that provides the best opportunities for the seller. In the same months, record monthly sales figures were consistently set in Spain.
Representatives of the Fotocasa real estate portal also agree with these data, however, they note that in 2021-22 this trend underwent temporary changes related to the socio-economic situation both in Spain itself and internationally. The trend is observed not only in Spain, but also in global markets in general. Nevertheless, we are talking about a temporary trend. Fundamentally, the beginning of the year is still the best period for sale. The rate of sale of a house put up in January may not reach months, but on average it is 60 days.
April and December are the worst months for real estate sales
Holidays are always considered a good time for sales. Christmas and Easter holidays including, that is, December and April months. However, it is for residential real estate that these are the worst periods and for obvious reasons. Large «family» holidays, like Christmas, do not go well with the desire to «drop everything and organize a large-scale move to a new place».
This is also supported by statistical data. INE points out that December was the worst month for sales in 2007, 2008, 2016, 2018 and 2019. April is also not far behind. He distinguished himself in 2009, 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2022. Usually the number of sales increases after the holiday season and big holidays. At the same time, banks are more often starting to offer favorable conditions for mortgage loans, looking back at the supply and demand of the market.
If the house is put up for sale in April or October, then the period of its sale can stretch for many months. A much longer period than could be achieved by starting to sell your house or apartment in January, May or July.
Other factors influencing the speed of real estate sales
The sale of real estate requires considerable time, so you can not expect that it will be completed in a couple of days. In Spain, about 21% of sellers had to spend about 2 months. About 18% spent 2 to 4 months on this process, 17% spent 4 to 6 months and another 17% — from 6 months to a year, according to a study by Fotocasa.
The importance of the season for the speed of home sales was indicated above, but this is not the only significant factor. The list of key variables for the success and speed of the sale includes, among others, the type of object, its condition, location and the asking price. According to the Fotocasa report, for example, in Madrid, it takes an average of 2 to 3 months to sell real estate. It is a big city with a good, attractive location, diverse prices, a wide range of objects for sale and their types. At the same time, in the hinterland of the country, the sale may be delayed for a year or more.