Should You List Your Home For Sale Before Christmas?

As we approach the end of another year many of us take stock and re-evaluate their living situation. This is especially true after an unprecedented 18 months with lockdowns and restrictions affecting our everyday lives.
Typically Boxing Day and New Year’s Day are extremely popular, with record breaking viewing numbers on these days across the property portals and websites. Although people often wait until after Christmas to list their homes for sale, we are seeing that more people are putting their homes on the market before Christmas in a bid to move in the New Year.

Rightmove has reported that last month there was a 14% rise in the number of people starting the sales process by requesting a valuation – this is compared to the same period last year.

At present, we believe it’s a great time to sell. Mortgage rates are still low and there are some great mortgage deals available. What’s more, for every home we sell there is high competition, and we are achieving some great prices for our clients.

Generally, the start of the spike in home buying is on Boxing Day as people resolve to be in a larger home the next year after the rush of Christmas visitors – each year we see record numbers of website visitors and we aren’t the only ones with Rightmove reporting an increasing number of people browsing properties after Christmas Day with website visits 54% higher in 2020 than in 2019. The portal saw an incredible 51 million visitors between Boxing Day and the first working day of the new year. Therefore, it pays to get ahead and list your home before Christmas so that you can reach those all-important portal viewers.

It’s also worth noting that by listing your home now, you’ll have some great photos without Christmas decorations which can not only make your home look dated in the New Year, but also show it as being more spacious to potential buyers.

If you don’t want to list your home right now – you can still do the prep. If you want to instruct us, we can get all the marketing details ready for when you want to go live with the listing – it doesn’t have to go live straight away. You could put your home on the market on Boxing Day but arrange for viewings in January to allow time to get yourself organised after Christmas.

If you can secure a buyer now however, you will be in a very strong position to look at homes that will come on the market around the Christmas period and with an offer in place, you’ll be in a better place to negotiate.

Clyde Property is a leading independent, multiple award-winning estate and letting agent with more than 30 years’ experience in selling and letting property in Scotland. Just call your local Clyde Property branch today for friendly, impartial advice on finding your next dream home.