The best time of the year to sell a house in the UK has been revealed, with one month in particular the most effective for sellers.
Spring has been named as the prime time to sell your home, according to Rightmove.
Their analysis over the last five years revealed that March is the strongest month of the year to sell, with the highest number of buyers enquiring about properties for sale.
March also has the biggest number of new listings across the year and due to demand among buyers at its the highest, it is also the most competitive time to buy.
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As we are now approaching March, activity is ramping up among buyers.
New listings are up 11% in the last three weeks compared to the same period last year, data from Rightmove reveals.
Buyer demand is also up 32% over the last three weeks compared to the same time last year and home-valuation requests to estate agents are up 27% since the start of the year in comparison to last year.
Rightmove's study, which compared home-moving data over the last five years excluding 2020 due to the pandemic, showed March is the month when the highest number of buyers are enquiring about each property available on average.
This means competition between buyers is at its strongest in March on average, providing the best opportunity for many prospective to sell their home.
Around three quarters of all properties are successfully landing a buyer at the moment, compared to a historical average of around half.
At the moment, sellers are finding buyers in an average of 39 days, compared to an average of 59 days over the last five years.
April is the next strongest month to sell, based on competition between buyers for each available property, followed by May.
With warmer weather hopefully on its way, buyer searches for gardens jumped 70% in January compared to two years ago, as more people look for outdoor space heading into spring.
Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s director of property data said: “Spring has long been known as a peak point in the housing market calendar, with many buyers and sellers trying to get into a new home for the summer months.
"However this interesting study confirms that for those considering selling this year, March has historically been the best time to come to market on average.
For any sellers who might be conscious of coming to market at a time when the number of new listings has traditionally been high, the data shows us that the level of demand in March means sellers are likely to met with multiple potential buyers competing for their home.
“This spring is certainly shaping up to be a busy one, with buyer demand, new listings coming to market for sale, and valuation requests to estate agents from future sellers all continuing to increase compared to last year.
Gardens are likely to be high on the list of priorities for home-movers, as outdoor space continues to be a strong consideration factor when deciding on a next home.”
