If you are thinking about buying or selling your home, you will have many important decisions ahead of you. While sometimes you may not have much of a choice regarding the time of year you will be buying or selling a home – other times you may want to also factor in whether or not house prices are different depending on the season.
If so, this possible aspect of the housing market may play an important role in the timing in which you opt to either sell your home and/or buy another house at that time.
Furthermore, if you are plagued with debt and less than stellar credit, you might also want to learn more about whether or not house prices do swift depending on the time of year.
For more information on this topic, read on to learn more about if house prices may in fact, seasonal.
Historically-speaking, the housing market has been known to be stronger during the spring and summer months. While properties do of course sell any time of year – often times less so do they sell during the winter months. Perhaps due to the snow and winter weather conditions playing a factor in rural home buyers deciding to purchase homes after the snow has cleared and they can have a better idea of what the land surrounding their home actually looks like.
With that being said, aside from the actual purchasing of homes, which can of course fuel the price of homes in various Canadian markets – there may also be many other factors that are just as likely to drive up or lower house prices at certain times of the year.
Of those times that individuals do have their homes listed during the winter months, this may also indicate that these sellers are more eager to sell their home and therefore also willing to let the home go for less money compared to if they were able to be patiently await an ideal price. For this reason, ultimately home prices may be more reasonable during the winter months in some cases.
As a buyer, you may also have less competition to buy a home in the winter, so not only might you have more freedom to negotiate a lower price, you are also less likely to be involved in a bidding war that drives up the price.
Ultimately, the winter can prove to be a time when house prices are generally lower and buyers may be more open to selling for less – as the number of home buyers do tend to drop off during this time, picking up again in the spring.
In fact, there is some new information that points to October being the best month to purchase a home. Research collected over the last 15 years has shown that home prices during this period of time have been lower during this month. Home prices seemed to indicate that more sellers were willing to sell their homes at a discounted price and a higher number of home closures also take place during this time.
On the other hand, April seems to be a time of year when home prices may also be higher. With more sellers listing their homes in the spring, with higher prices and perhaps more patience to wait it out until they receive the proper price. Since buyers also want to jump on the properly ladder or purchase a new home during the spring, there may also be more buyers driving up the prices as competition and bidding wars may also be a more likely scenario.
All in all, it can benefit home buyers – and sellers to take note of when house prices are typically higher and when they might also be lower, and there is more flexibility in terms of being able to negotiate terms and pricing.
As it would seem the answer to the question ‘are house prices seasonal?’ can in many cases be YES. Therefore, it is possible for home buyers and sellers to identify the ideal time to move forward with their real estate plans, also making the most of the current housing market situation.
Since buying a home is one of the largest and most expensive decisions you are likely to make in your life, it is a good idea to think through all of the reasons why and how you can make this process more manageable. This of course can mean that you are able to gather more insight into the nature of house prices across the calendar year and identifying when is the best time for you to buy a home.
As a rule, if you want to avoid a bad credit situation, it is best to plan ahead and put some additional thought towards any major financial decision you will make; this way you can also keep your debt at a more manageable level and have a more sound financial future overall.
