My sellers often ask if the spring and summer are really the best time to list and sell their condo. This is generally true but have you ever wondered why? Let’s go over this, and if you are at all considering selling you condo here in Seattle, this will be helpful info to consider and factor into your decision. The key is to put a plan in place, and that planning should start now during the fall and winter.
As we start to wind down 2017, this is the time of the year I like to speak with my new and past clients that are considering selling so that we can plan for 2018 and nail down the best market timing for the following year!
Final sale price and timing the market run hand in hand, in my opinion, in our Seattle condo market. This is because, unlike a single-family home where often a family is timing their home sale around summer vacations, travel schedules, schools, etc., it’s not usually the biggest motivating factor for a condo seller (nor the condo buyer) since historically we do not see such a big focus on families with children in the urban condo market. It is a growing segment, but still not a governing segment of the condo market. So, the condo market tends to be much more focused on timing as it relates to hiring cycles of companies, rental rates of apartments, and economic factors such as interest rates.
To help highlight the ideal window of time, we found a great report that shows average sale price, by month, on a historical basis. The information is from Trendgraphics and tracks the sales price trends from 2012 through 2016. This report is based on the county averages so I decided to start there, and we’ll zoom in and focus on Seattle condos specifically in an upcoming post.
If you are at all considering selling your condo, pay close attention to timing the market, and let’s talk about the pros and cons of different times of the year.
The attached graphs show a pretty consistent historical pricing trend where the closed selling price of properties starts an upward trend in around March, and that upward trend continues through the summer until around August, where the speed of the price increases appear to level off through the end of the year. Then the pricing starts the following year, where it left off in the previous year with the same upward trend. Therefore, timing is key. Keep in mind these sales would have gone into contract 3-5 weeks prior to the closing date, in most cases. So even though August tends to be the high point of the trend each year, those properties went on the market most likely in the prior month (note: these are stats that contain both condo and single-family sales, but it still illustrates the point of timing the sale and next month we’ll do our own research and focus just on Seattle condo sales and get the historical data to compare). Download Historical Seattle Home Price Graphs by Month
More to come next month. If you are considering selling, now is a good time to start that conversation and I’m here to help and be of service.
By Marco Kronen with Seattle Condo Review: A guide to Seattle downtown condos.
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