Houses in today’s market are selling in days, and Houston sellers wanting the best chance for a quick sale should list on a Thursday before Labor Day, according to a new analysis from Zillow.
The report finds that homes listed on a Thursday in Houston typically sell faster than any other day of the week. It’s also the most popular day to list a home, with Sunday being the least-popular day to list, according to the report. Thursday is the best day of the week to get above the asking price for a listing in Houston. Homes listed on a Saturday tend to sit on the market longer than expected.
Nationally, Zillow found that homes listed on a Thursday sell three days faster than any other day of the week and are more likely to sell above list prices. Twenty-one percent of homes are listed on a Thursday nationally. Homes listed on a Sunday tend to stay on the market five days longer than expected, while Saturday and Sunday listings typically take four days longer to sell.
With half of all homes in today’s market selling above the asking price, the timing of when to list can have an impact on both time on market and sale price, according to the analysis.
“A home sitting even for one week without a sale in this market can signal to buyers that they may be able to get a small discount,” Jeff Knipe, president of Knipe Realty in Portland, Ore., said in a release. “A good strategy for buyers who want to avoid getting into a bidding war could be to target homes that have been on the market for a week or two, or even those listed over the weekend that are less likely to sell quickly.”
Based on historic market trends, Zillow recommends listing a home before Labor Day, which traditionally is the end of the house-hunting season. Pre-pandemic, the weeks of March 11 and March 18, 2019, were the best to list to get a quick sale, according to the report, which also found homes listed during the week of April 22 had the highest chance to sell above the asking price. The worst week for a quick sale in 2019 was Labor Day week, when home sales slowed. The worst weeks to sell above the asking price in 2019 were the weeks of Oct. 14 and Oct. 21.