I had a homeowner from Crayford email me the other day. She said she
had been following my blog (the Dartford
Property Report) for a while and wanted to pick my brain on when is the
best time of the year to sell a property. Trying to calculate the best time to put your
Dartford property on the market can often seem something akin to witchcraft
and, whilst I would agree that there are particular times of the year that can
prove more productive than others, there are plenty of factors that need to be
taken into consideration.
Even if you are putting your property on the market, you don’t know how
long it will take to find a buyer - no crystal ball to help with that one. At
the moment, the latest set of figures for all 20 estate agents in Dartford,
show the average length of time it
takes to find a buyer for any Dartford property is as follows
Detached 74 days
Semi 45 days
Terraced 44 days
Flat 54 days
Overall
average 53
days
If we roll the clock back to January 2016, the overall average time it
took to find a buyer (again using data from all of the 20 Dartford Estate
Agents) was 73 days.
So, on the face of it, things have improved somewhat over the last six
months or so. Well, when I looked at the data going back to 2008, the average
length of time it takes to sell a property usually drops between January and
the Summer months, for it to rise on the run up to Christmas. For example ..
and in more
recent times …
Winter 2013 - 99 days Summer 2013 - 98 days
Winter
2014 - 89 days Summer 2014 - 77 days
Winter
2015 - 77 days Summer 2015 - 65 days
Coming back to the present, even if you placed your property on the
market today in Dartford, if it takes you on average a little over seven weeks to find a
buyer, then you can expect solicitors and the chain to take an additional eight
and twelve weeks after that, before you move. It comes down to personal choice
as to when you place your property on the market.
There are times of the year when it's better to sell, and times when
waiting a little longer can pay off in the long run. In a nutshell, I would say
this is the way of the seasons ..
WHEN THE MARKET?
Spring: Customarily there are more
house-buyers as the Daffodils show themselves
Summer: Sellers may miss out on
house-buyers being on holiday
Autumn: The enthusiasm for buying homes
returns
Winter: Interest diminishes as festive
period looms
What this means to buyers and landlord investors is that they often pick
up a bargain in later months of the year, as there is less competition from
owner occupiers. So, whilst there are better months to achieve a quicker sale,
the only piece of advice I can give to every home owner and landlord in
Dartford, is do the right thing for yourself, do your homework and buy (and
sell) with both your head as well as your heart
