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What is the best month to sell or buy a house?

Is it more favorable to buy a house in July or December? And is it better for a seller who wants the highest possible price to wait until spring, or does the time of year not matter?

Correcting for rising house prices
To find out whether there is such a thing as a seasonal effect, Funda looked at all existing homes and apartments sold via funda in the last five years: almost a million properties in total.

Now house prices have risen enormously: in five years the average price per square meter in the Netherlands has almost doubled. In order to make a good comparison between months, Funda has decoupled this trend from possible seasonal effects. Rising house prices would otherwise distort the analysis.

The best time to sell is in May, when the transaction price per square meter is highest

February best for buyers
Then the figures for buyers. In which month do they get the best deal from the housing market? To do this, Funda compared the time at which a house was bought with the final transaction price. In a chart, the results are very similar to the seller's, but with a few months delay. Logical, because the moment of sale will only come a while after the publication on funda. Looking at the lowest transaction price, buyers are best off in February. The least favorable month to buy is July.

The best time to buy a house is in February

Month has only minor influence
So does it make sense to wait with buying or selling until the most favorable time of the year? Not that. Because the effect of that moment is ultimately small. Certainly in comparison with the influence of rising house prices in general. It's good to know, but buyers and sellers shouldn't let their plans depend on it