Selling a home is an important undertaking. Knowing when and how to sell a property quickly and at a good price can be vital to ensuring that sellers achieve a good return on an investment, or unlock the funds required to facilitate an onward move.
Spring has traditionally been considered the best time to sell a house, however, new data from Rightmove (1) suggests that February and March are the best months to list your home, with seven out of ten homes listed during these months going on to complete.
Rightmove also suggests that homes listed in February also find buyers more quickly on average, with properties taking just 51 days to find a buyer. This is somewhat surprisingly the fastest time of year along with January, with March and April not far behind at 52 days.
Traditionally, the winter months have been seen as a difficult time to sell a home, especially during November, December and January. However, in recent years the property market has seen the emergence of a ‘Christmas Rush.’
It is not uncommon for property sites to see user traffic triple between Christmas and Boxing Day, with buyers seeking to get ahead of the competition at the beginning of a new year.
The announcement that the government will lower the threshold at which first-time buyers will pay stamp duty back from £425,000 to £300,000 in April 2025 has undoubtedly spurred buyers on to complete their property purchases sooner rather than later.
However, it is important to remember that the ‘Christmas Rush’ has been noted by leading property portals since as early as 2019, meaning that the race to beat stamp duty has merely accelerated the demand for property sales during January and February, not caused it.
Wider performance across the property market during January 2025 suggests that house prices increased across the Northwest, as the region continues to remain popular with both buy-to-let (BTL) and residential buyers.
According to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in its December 2024 RICS Residential Market Survey (2) house prices, vendor instructions, and homeowner enquiries were all up during December 2024.
This has led to a strong start to 2025, with figures showing an 11% increase in the number of properties coming to market compared to the same period last year and a 9% rise in the number of buyers approaching the market. (3).
This also resulted in an 11% increase in the agreed sales between buyers and sellers during January 2025.
Overall, the outlook across the property market is highly positive, having demonstrated impressive resilience in recent years.
If you have a property to sell, now is the time to act if you need to secure a sale quickly. Edward Mellor has been helping people buy and sell homes for over 40 years and is expertly placed to help you take your property from FOR SALE to SOLD.
Contact us using the link below to book a free property valuation and begin your property journey today.
Book a Free Property Valuation
One area which is often overlooked when it comes to selling property quickly is the growing market for property auctions.
Property auctions are becoming increasingly popular across the UK and are enjoying a similar rise in both buyers and stock coming to market as is being experienced in the traditional housing market.
If you are looking to unlock funds from a property sale quickly, auction can reduce the selling time for homes from months to weeks, with the money from your sale arriving in your account in as little as 28 days of contracts changing hands.
Our February auction achieved an impressive £7 Million for our grateful sellers, with 45 properties selling under the hammer.
If you are interested in selling at auction, or in learning more about the process of buying at auction, simply contact our dedicated team in the link below.
(1) – https://www.rightmove.co.uk/news/articles/property-news/best-time-to-sell/
(2) – Residential Market Survey RICS December 2024
(3) – https://edwardmellor.co.uk/news/house-prices-surging-ahead-in-the-northwest/
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