Have you ever wondered what the best time of year to buy a home when the object is to buy in the lowest price possible? I have many clients asking me about the market and when will it come down? Comparing 2018 to 2017 through December, the average sale price rose 5.5% from $428,700 to $452,400. If last year is any comparison to what is to come this year, the housing market overall price is still on the increase (predicted to be somewhere between 2.5%-5.0% for 2019).
If you notice the graph above the general trend is upward, no surprise but what is interesting is there is a low every year sometime around January time frame. Before you jump in and start actively looking for these great deals, keep a few things in mind. People that sell in a micro low market condition need to sell, and are likely unable to wait for the market to come back up for those few months. Even if they could afford to wait for the market to increase back to the yearly “high” number, is it worth it to do so? Are the expenses to hold outweighing the increase in price?
The second thing to consider is that listed houses are also at a low during this time. Making finding your ideal home a little more difficult as supply is just not at peak levels. During this time, we have some options that could put you in a better position to both find and home, and possibly sell the home you previously had to remove from market due to winter doldrums. It never hurts to do some searching during this time. You could be pleasantly surprised to find your perfect home without the competition that made obtaining that match during the summer.
If your overall buying objective is to buy your asset to hold for a long time (greater than six years), it’s never a bad time to buy the right home for you. Historically speaking, if you look at the average price in 2011 ($244,500) and the average price in 2017 ($421,700), that’s an increase of $177,200 without including the decrease in the overall principle from payments, is a 72% investment gain. Buying in December-mid February can put a little more equity in your pocket, historically speaking. Consider the possibility.