My husband and I are desperate to move home as we have outgrown our two-bedroom house. This has been made more urgent by the fact that our second child is due in April.
We can’t start looking until we put our own home on the market, as we need to sell in order to buy.
But we heard that the run-up to Christmas is a bad time to try and sell property. Is this true?
Should we put our house on the market now, or wait until the new year?
If we do wait until the new year is there a good time of year to start trying to sell? For example, would it be best to start in January or wait until April when the weather is nicer?
And surely a better time to sell makes it a harder time to buy – so does it actually matter at all?
Ed Magnus of This is Money replies: Nobody wants to list their property at a quieter time, only to be sitting in limbo for months waiting for it to sell.
Estate agents will often advise that the longer the advert lingers on Rightmove or Zoopla, the less interest it is likely to attract as buyers will suspect something is wrong with the property.
Traditional wisdom says that spring and summer are the best times to sell, with winter months notoriously quiet for estate agents.
But as you say, it’s a bit of a catch-22. If you sell during the traditionally busier months, then you may also face stiffer competition with other buyers over your onward purchase.
Rightmove says that buyer demand per available property tends to be highest in spring and lowest in winter with November and December tending to attract the least buyer demand per available property.
But the fact you are due to give birth in April should probably also be factored into your planning. You may wish to try and move home before the baby comes, or wait until after to put your home up for sale.
Whatever you decide, it’s best to be prepared for the move to take longer than you hope. Moving home is a notoriously lengthy process with setbacks and delays par for the course.
For expert advice, we spoke to Henry Pryor, a professional buying agent, Tim Bannister, a property expert at Rightmove, Chelsea Whelan, regional partner for North, City & East London sales at Knight Frank, Angela Kerr, a director at property advice website HomeOwners Alliance and Dan Copley, consumer expert at Zoopla.
The property market doesn’t stop for Christmas
Henry Pryor replies: There was a time when the market stopped for the summer holidays and over Christmas. Homes sold up until the first snow and then started again when the snowdrops showed.
These days it doesn’t even pause for Santa Claus. Rightmove’s busiest day of the year is New Year’s Day, as people decide that their new year’s resolution is to move home.
Your instinct is right. You need to be what estate agents call ‘chain free.’ That means at the very least you need to have a sale agreed on your current home so that you are more likely to be able to follow through on any deal that’s agreed on your next home. It’s tough to negotiate a deal if you don’t actually have the money.
Get your property on the market now and with luck you’ll have it under offer and in solicitors’ hands in the new year, and then you can go shopping and bag something in the new year sales.
Angela Kerr replies: Congratulations. You certainly won’t be the first pregnant woman looking to move house before the baby arrives – I did the same.
For that reason alone, I’d say get on and list your home asap.
As for Christmas being a bad time of year to sell, then yes of course you’re unlikely to get the same levels of interest as when marketing in the spring, but death, debt and divorce, plus a myriad of other reasons, drives a perennial supply of people looking for homes.
And arguably anyone who has time to go house hunting in December is going to be a more committed and motivated buyer.
Tim Bannister adds: It might sound like a cliché, but the reality is that the best time to move is when it suits you best, or when you need to.
As you’ve mentioned, it’s often life events such as a growing family, a new job, or moving for a child’s schooling that drives us to take action, rather than trying to time the market.
The run-up to Christmas is typically the quietest time of year for the market – however this doesn’t mean it’s a bad time to try and sell property.
Whilst there may be fewer buyers in the market at this time of year, these buyers are often more serious and may need to move for similarly urgent reasons. You may find that you are competing against fewer neighbouring sellers too.
Chelsea Whelan replies: A common conundrum, and not helped by our favourite sport of watching Rightmove as the perfect properties come and go in a slightly ‘here’s what you could have had’ fashion.
Rest assured though, as long as you know the four-bedroom home falls within your budget, when you’re ready – the right house will come up.
Perhaps most importantly, you need to make a decision based on what works for your personal timeframes.
Your second child is due in April which will bring with it plenty of sleepless nights for a while. If your personal preference is to be settled in your new home before the arrival of your baby, then you need to act now.
You could avoid higher stamp duty
Angela Kerr replies: The stamp duty bands are due to change next year. At the moment when you’re buying a home, the first £250,000 is exempt from stamp duty and you’ll pay 5 per cent on the amount between £250,001 and £925,00.
But from 1 April next year, 2 per cent will be charged on the portion from £125,001 to £250,000 and 5 per cent on the portion above £250,001 to £925,000.
So, say your new four bedroom house is worth £400,000. If you complete before 31 March 2025, your stamp duty bill will be £7,500, but if you complete on your new house from 1 April 2025, your stamp duty bill will be £10,000.
These stamp duty changes are likely to hit first-time buyers hardest, so we’re expecting more buyers than normal to want to move quickly in the new year to complete before the 1 April deadline.
Chelsea Whelan replies: Whilst the run-up to Christmas isn’t traditionally the ‘peak’ selling season there are plenty of arguments for acting now.
The market this year has been very stop- start due to this year’s earlier election and then the later Budget. Many buyers held off their plans looking for clarity on the outcome of the Budget and the impact this was likely to have on house prices.
The main change affecting your sale is that the stamp duty threshold for first-time homebuyers will be reduced to £300,000, down from the current £425,000.
As a result, the likely market for your house – first-time buyers – will be accelerated by this deadline and will be keen to secure a property over the Christmas period in order to exchange and complete before they might have to shell out thousands of pounds more.
Based on this, I would recommend now would be an optimal time for you to sell and for maximum exposure.
Take advantage of the Boxing Day bounce
Dan Copley replies: A good time to consider selling your property is right after Christmas, with January the most popular month for visitors to the Zoopla website, followed by March and February.
We usually see a ‘Boxing Day bounce’ as people use their free time on 26 December to start thinking about house moves. The new year also drives an increase in property searches as people start looking for a new home at the beginning of the year.
Angela Kerr replies: Listing your house now means you’ll be able to take advantage of the Boxing Day boom.
Last year, Rightmove reported visits to its site nearly doubled between Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
The level of demand from potential home-buyers, measured by the number of enquiries sent to estate agents about homes for sale, jumped too, and more than tripled by 273 per cent from Christmas Day to Boxing Day.
What about later in the year?
Tim Bannister replies: If someone does have the flexibility of deciding when they come to market, we typically see a busy January after a quieter December, and buyer activity is usually at its busiest in the spring.
We also often see a bounce in buyer activity in the Autumn after a quieter summer holiday period.
However, as you mention, these busier buying periods often mean more sellers too, so there is that to consider.
Dan Copley replies: May was the most popular month to list a home for sale on Zoopla, with summer the most popular time of year for house viewings and moves.
According to HMRC, August was the busiest month of the year for completions with 104,740 property transactions completed in the UK with a value of £40,000 or more.
Any final words of advice?
Angela Kerr replies: I wouldn’t worry about trying to second guess the best time to sell. A home is for living in and you say you’ve outgrown your current home, so it’s the right time for you.
Two tips though, before you list. First, get your professional photos done before you put your Christmas decorations up so they don’t date on the property portals.
Second, don’t feel the pressure to keep the house tidy for the whole of December. Ask your estate agent to operate a ‘Do Not Disturb’ policy for a week or so, so you can get on with enjoying the festivities knowing viewings are being booked in for after the relatives have left.
Tim Bannister adds: Ultimately, it’s about deciding what is best for you based on your needs and when you’d ideally like to be in a new home, more so than trying to find the perfect time to move.
And with potentially fewer sellers to compete against, and the traditional Boxing Day bounce in buyer interest on the horizon, I certainly wouldn’t say now is a bad time to try and move, particularly if the perfect home for you becomes available.
