Autumn provides sellers with the best chance of selling their home as the busiest season for homebuying, data insight from My Home Move Conveyancing has revealed.
My Home Move Conveyancing analysed monthly residential property transaction data on completions from the past five years to gain insight into which season tends to see the highest transaction volume.
The data revealed that, from one year to the next, it was almost always summer or autumn that saw the most market activity.
In 2019-20, both the summer and autumn seasons accounted for 29.5% of all transactions seen over the 12 month period, the joint highest of all four seasons.
During the following year, spring saw the largest proportion of sales at 29.7%, the only time a season other than autumn or summer was busier during the period analysed.
However, the analysis noted that this seasonal anomaly was likely due to the fact that there was a surge in buyer activity as they looked to take advantage of the first pandemic Stamp Duty holiday ahead of the March 2021 deadline.
In 2022-23, autumn once again saw the most sales at 29.1%.
Last year, summer took the lead by a small amount with 26.7% compared to autumn’s 26.4%.
Overall, between June 2019 and May 2024, autumn accounted for a total of 1.62 million sales, equivalent to 27.3% of the total.
Meanwhile, summer’s combined sales of 1.55 million accounted for just 26.2% of the total.
Alistair Singer, director of My Home Move Conveyancing, said: “There’s no doubt that summer is a busy time of year for the property market and it’s the perfect season to welcome potential buyers into your home to view it.
“However, there’s perhaps a common misconception that once the leaves start to brown the property market starts to wind down in the run up to the Christmas break.
“Whilst there’s certainly a dip in completed transaction levels during the winter months, the autumn season actually remains an incredibly busy one with respect to market activity and so sellers should rest assured that there is still plenty of opportunity to find a buyer in the current market.”
He concluded: “Feedback from our clients suggests getting in before Christmas, a fresh start in a new home in the new year or a move aligned to a new job are all reasons why an Autumn move is desirable.”
