We love visiting the beach in the summer. Short of hopping on a plane, flying to Hawaii, sinking into the warm fine sand, letting the sun soak into our skin, and occasionally dipping into the cool ocean — visiting “The Beach” in Toronto or driving down to Prince Edward County’s Sandbanks gives my family the opportunity to indulge.
It’s definitely our most favourite summertime activity.
Another summertime activity you might be contemplating is selling your home. It’s certainly not as fun as going to the beach, or the cottage, or flying somewhere nice for a vacation — but it may be a necessary thing to do if you’re in the middle of transitioning homes due to lifestyle changes or other reasons.
That brings us to this question:
Is it a good time to sell your home in the summer?
Let’s look at a few details you might want to consider before making the decision to sell your home and move this summer.
Market Activity
Real estate has its seasonal ups and downs. Market activity tends to slow in the summer months, especially after a really busy spring market. It picks up again in the fall before slowing for the winter.
It’s not uncommon for real estate sales to drop in the summer months. It’s not a sign of a bad market either.
Some homeowners are weary and even cautious about the slowdown in sales during the summer months when compared to the recent record breaking sales activity we’ve all seen in the past spring market.
It’s fairly common to see sales slow down during the summer. This isn’t something to be worried about.
What you should be watching in addition to the number of homes sold is the number of new listings coming onto the market. If there is a steady number of homes being introduced to the market, and a steady number of homes being sold, this is a healthy sign of market activity.
If there are a lot of homes being listed, but fewer homes actually being sold, this could signal a market in transition and a potential cooling of prices.
In our current market, there are a lot of sales happening relative to the number of homes being listed for sale in the market. This is supporting the growth of real estate prices throughout the Greater Toronto Area and in surrounding cities and towns.
Have a look at the recent listings and sales in your neighbourhood. Are homes selling quickly, at increasingly higher prices? Or is there a lot of competition, and are homes staying on the market for days? Determining this will be one indicator of whether or not you should sell this summer.
Average Price
When you look at average price graphs for the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board or any real estate board for that matter, you’ll see the seasonal pattern of average prices as they rise to higher highs in the spring, dip a bit lower in the summer, rise again in the fall (though not as high as spring levels), and drop again in the winter.
This is a perfectly normal pattern that has been proven year after year with the exception the 2016-2017 market, and the recent 2019-2020 market as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This price pattern does not imply that you will get a lower price for your home if you sell in the summer versus in the spring.
It simply says the average prices of homes selling in the summer are typically lower than the average prices of homes selling in the spring.
Think: higher end, multimillion dollar homes.
Fewer higher end, higher priced homes tend to sell in the summertime. Lower to mid priced homes continue to sell in abundance during the summer season which leads to a lower average price.
In a market where there is a lot of competition, lower inventory, and higher sales, there is a great chance that your home will sell for a higher price now than it would have sold for in the spring.
However, if you’re in a market where the number of homes for sale is growing, and there is a lot of competition, you may end up selling for less than what you would have gotten in the spring… or your home may sit on the market for a while.
Days on Market
Homes typically take longer to sell during the summer season unless your property is located in a neighbourhood that is very active right now. Kids are off from school, people are going away on vacation, and there are a lot of other activities to be done during the summer other than looking at homes to buy.
This shouldn’t dissuade you from listing your home.
Motivated, interested and active buyers are still looking for homes during the summer. Maybe they sold their house and looking for the next home to move into. Or perhaps they’re tired of living in their in-laws’ basement and figure it’s a great time to make a move and enjoy their own space.
There’s always a buyer looking for a home in the market even in the summertime.
Even though it may take a bit longer to sell if you’re in a balanced market, you should be confident that a buyer will fall in love with your home and make an offer for it.
Get Ready
Talk to your real estate broker about how to get your home ready for sale in the summer. Find out what’s going on in your neighbourhood, how much homes are selling for, and what you can expect to get for yours.
It might be a great idea for you to book a mini vacation for a week so you can leave your home vacant for easy showings, and then come back to an offer presentation.
While it may not be as fun as going to the beach, it’s probably something you need to do especially if you’re reading this. 🙂
Leave a Reply