List Your Property Now, or Wait Until the New Year?

It is the question every seller asks in the second half of October, usually out loud, usually to somebody who has already decided for them.

Go now, or wait for January? There is a real answer, and it depends on far fewer things than people think.

What actually happens to the market from here?

It thins out, then it stops, then it explodes.

Activity tapers through November, goes very quiet for the fortnight around Christmas, and then surges from Boxing Day into the busiest listing month of the year. That is the shape of every property winter, and both of the options in front of you sit somewhere on it.

Going now means less competition and fewer buyers. Waiting means more buyers and a great deal more competition. Neither is automatically better.

When should you go now?

When your home is ready and you would genuinely move if the right offer came.

The property is presentable and the photographs can be taken this month, while there is still some light.
You need to move for a reason with a date attached. A job, a school, a chain you are already in, a growing family.
Your home is unusual or in high demand, where the buyer who wants it will find it regardless of the month.
You are prepared to hold your nerve through a quiet December rather than panicking in week six.

The advantage is real. Fewer listings means a motivated buyer has fewer alternatives, and the buyers still looking in November are the serious ones.

When should you wait?

When listing now would mean launching badly.

If the kitchen is half finished, if you cannot get decent photographs until the spring, or if you are not actually sure you want to move, then going to market now is not seizing an opportunity. It is spending your best fortnight of attention on a listing that was not ready.

That first two or three weeks is the most valuable your property will ever have. Spend it once, and spend it properly.

What is the risk of listing now?

Becoming stale, and it is a genuine risk worth naming.

A property that goes live in late October and is still there in February looks tired to buyers, whatever the reason. Listings carry a visible history, and buyers read time on the market as a signal even when it is a poor one.

The way to manage that is to price it properly from day one and to agree with your agent, in advance, what you will do if there is no offer by a set date. A plan made in October is a strategy. The same decision made in February is a rescue.

Is there a third option?

Yes, and it is the one most people miss.

Do everything except go live. Instruct the agent, have the photographs taken while the weather allows, get the description written, instruct a solicitor and start the paperwork, and find the certificates. Then launch on a date you choose, whether that is next week or 2 January.

It costs nothing, it commits you to nothing, and it means you are not one of the many sellers who intended to list in January and went live in February.

What does your competition look like in each case?

That is really the whole decision, and it is worth looking at properly rather than guessing.

Ask your agent how many comparable properties are on the market in your area right now, and how many were on in January last year. Most agents can tell you in about a minute, and very few sellers ever ask.

If the answer is that there is very little like yours available now, that is a real argument for going. If your street already has three similar houses sitting unsold, adding a fourth in November is unlikely to end well, and the preparation route makes far more sense.

If you are ready, go now. If you are not, use the time to get ready rather than to wait.

The mistake is not choosing either option. It is choosing neither, drifting through November and December without doing anything, and arriving in January with the same amount of preparation you had in October and considerably more competition.

Frequently asked questions

Will I get a lower price if I sell in the winter?

Not automatically. Price is set by your property, your competition and your buyer, not by the month. Fewer buyers is offset by fewer competing properties, and a serious winter buyer is often a better buyer than a summer browser.

Can I still complete before Christmas if I list now?

Realistically, no. A sale takes time to find a buyer and then time to go through the legal process. Listing in late October should be understood as aiming for a new year completion, and any agent promising otherwise is being optimistic.

What if I list now and it does not sell?

Agree the plan before you start. Decide with your agent what you will review and when, so that a lack of offers by a certain date triggers a considered decision rather than a panic. Most properties that stall do so because nobody made that plan.

If someone you know is stuck on this decision, please share this with them.

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