New Zillow Research Says The Best Date to List Your Home to Sell It Quickly Is on a Thursday Before Labor Day

If you're looking to sell your home as quickly as possible, heed this advice from the real estate number crunchers at Zillow: For a speedy sale, list your home on a Thursday and be sure to do so before Labor Day, which falls on Monday, September 6, this year. On the flip side, their research indicates that homes listed on Sundays "tended to stay on the market for 8 days longer than homes listed on Thursday," per their recent article on when to list your home. Zillow notes that this research was conducted using home sales data from 2019 since it was the last full year of sales data they had that is consistent with pre-pandemic seasonal trends.

As for why it's best to list your home in the half of the year before Labor Day, that has to do with seasonal shifts. "On average across the nation's 25 largest markets in 2019, the weeks of March 11 and March 18 were the best weeks to list for speedy sales, with listings coming off the market faster than other weeks, respectively (again, all else equal)," explain researchers on the Zillow team.

Home for sale real estate sign and beautiful new house.
Home for sale real estate sign and beautiful new house.

valentinrussanov / Getty Images

For a sale that went above asking price, listing the home in the week of April 22 helped sellers secure the highest chance of selling their home above their asking price. Meanwhile, based on the 2019 data, listing your home on the week ending September 1 - given that Labor Day came on September 2 that year - yielded the worst results for people looking to sell their homes quickly.

"Overall, the worst weeks of the year to sell for those looking to maximize gains were Oct. 14 and 21, with homes listed in that week in 2019 least likely to sell above ask," the post later notes, reminding us that selling your home after the summer rush may impact not only the speed at which your home sells but also impact the sale price negatively.

Local trends, too, come into play when it comes to securing the best offers on a home sale. For instance, as the article points out, homes listed towards the end of summer in warmer metropolitan areas such as Houston, Tampa, Atlanta, and Dallas, typically spend a lengthier time on the market than those listed in other times of the year. To see Zillow's full article, as well as search various cities for the best times to list homes for either speed or chance of selling above asking price, click here.

Are you listing your home for sale or looking to buy a new home? We'd love to hear from you and what issues interest you the most, if so.