Is Winter a Good Time to Sell?

Here’s the reality and how to bend it in your favour to get on with your plans.

Economics 101: Supply and Demand

The seasonal rhythm for winter market in Wellington is for there to be less new listings arriving, than for Spring or Summer when many more sellers list their properties.  This helpfully means less competition from other seller properties than would otherwise be the case.

What you find is that while there’s a relatively small dip in overall buyer interest (demand) over winter months, this is far outweighed by a much larger fall in sellers listing new property (supply).

Back to Economics 101 on markets, real estate at its core is about supply and demand so selling when there are less new sellers to compete with is definitely advantageous!  In fact, if a property needs a bit of work, winter is a better time for it to hit the market because later on there will be many more stronger examples to compete with.

Is there a Best Time to Sell?

When we put our life changes into play its exciting as we move from where we are to a new place for whatever reason.  Being ready is first saying ‘yes’ to the change and then it’s getting your property ready to help make it happen. 

This second part is where we come in.  The preparation step can massively increase a property’s saleability, shorten the time to sell and net a much better price.   Always start with advice as you don’t want to miss this opportunity as it makes more difference than any season does.

Does Winter Weather matter?

This week we ran an open home on a grey, rainy and blustery day and had 14 buyer groups through. In short…no weather doesn’t matter!

I’ve got memories of taking buyers into houses in umbrella braking storms and achieving great sale results, so weather really isn’t a factor as much as we might think it is.  I can also say that if we had a dollar for every time a buyer has come into a home on a crap weather day and said ‘this is the best time to see a house as you can really see what it’s like on a bad day’ we’d have a small fortune.  Serious buyers are out looking regardless as it’s not the sun coming out that makes them think they need a new property!

Also, it’s not as if there’s no sunny or fine days during winter.  One of the great things about property campaigns is that they cover at-least a few weeks so there’s usually plenty of good weather days in there as well.

For a chat about the market or best way to achieve your plans and goals this drop us an email or call (leonie.snook@harcourts.co.nz or 0275180008).