WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO BUY

Posted by Roy Swan on Oct 6, 2021 in Just Listed

The best week offers a balanced mix of market conditions that favor buyers

Highlights

The 2021 homebuying season has aligned with pre-pandemic seasonal patterns, with a familiar sweet spot for buyers expected in the fall.
Nationally, the best time to buy a home is the week of October 3-9.
If historical trends hold, the best week could add 100,000 homes to the inventory over the 2021 peak so far. Buyers could save $10,000 during this week compared to the summer peak for a median priced home of $385,000
There is local variation from market to market. In the largest metro areas, such as Los Angeles, Boston, New York City, Denver, Portland, and Minneapolis, the best week comes earlier, during the week of September 12-18.

Since the start of the pandemic, buying a home has been a challenge for many shoppers. Surging home prices, a blistering market pace, and intense competition from other buyers have made the process of finding and buying a dream home into a frustrating endeavor for many, including first time home buyers looking to make the leap from renting to owning.

Fortunately for buyers, some relief may be on the horizon as the season quickly approaches the best time to buy — the time of year when the balance of market conditions favor buyers the most. According to our analysis of realtor.com listing data since 2018, the best time to buy a home this year will be the week of October 3-9.

With all of the challenges facing buyers as the housing market recovers from the impact of the pandemic, this week provides a balance of market conditions that favor buying over every other week of the year.