Analysis of selling prices shows that November is the best month for sellers, with prices 0.80% higher than the average throughout the year.
But this depends on where you are across Australia, with the size of seasonal variations, and the best month to sell differing by region.
Spring and early in the year when homes sell for the most
At the national level, the average seasonal variation in prices favours sellers in the spring selling season (October and November) as well as in February and March.
In November, prices are highest: 0.8% above the average throughout the year. A seller of the average priced home, around $800,000, would take home more than $6,000 more in November, relative to the average price achieved through the year.
But selling results were also strong early in the year. Prices are also noticeably above average in February (+0.59%) and March (+0.72%).
By contrast, the lowest seasonal prices are achieved in June and July, on average across the country.
These estimates are based on a seasonal decomposition of hedonic price indices (which account for different types of homes being sold at different times of the year). The average seasonal deviations each month are extracted from the index trend. It represents an average over ten years of sales prices from 2013 to 2022.
But the best time to sell depends on where your home is
Some markets, such as Sydney, Adelaide and Hobart, achieve the highest prices early in the year. In Sydney and Hobart, the highest prices are achieved in March, while in Adelaide it is in April.
But all markets (apart from Darwin) record solid results in the traditional spring selling season, with the most common seasonally highest prices seen in October or November. This makes spring a good option regardless of where you are.
Some markets see much larger seasonal variation than others. For example, Melbourne, Perth and the ACT see prices more than 1% higher than average in their best selling month. Brisbane sees very little seasonal variation, relative to other cities.
Sellers achieve higher prices when more homes are on the market
The two time periods when sellers achieve the highest prices – spring and March – are also when there are higher than average sales volumes. Many sellers are also buyers, so these periods see higher than average supply as well as demand.
This analysis suggests the additional demand in these periods has a larger effect on prices than the higher supply of listings bringing more homes to choose from.
When to sell is just one consideration for sellers
Sellers have a lot of choices to make when selling their home: the type of campaign, the staging and presentation of their home, whether to use an auction, and finally when to sell.
We at PropTrack are crunching the data to answer these questions. This analysis shows there can be a noticeable difference in outcomes for sellers based on when they sell, depending on where they are.
This follows research showing that off-market sales campaigns result in lower selling prices.
While this is timely data as we move into the best month of the year to sell – November – sellers must weigh this with what works best for their personal circumstances.
In the end, a good home with a good campaign is likely to achieve a solid result any time of year.
