Apparently, the best time to purchase a house is the first week of Fall.
This time of year, buyers have less competition, more price reductions and greater inventory, according to realtor.com.
Out of the 53 major markets in the U.S., 41 reported that the week of Sept. 22 through 28 is the best time to purchase a home.
During this time, homebuyers would see 26% less competition and 6.1% more homes on the market. About 6% of homes on the market would go through price reductions and become 2.4% cheaper. This is what leads that week to carry the nickname: “Black Friday of homebuying.”
“As summer winds down and kids return to school, many families hit pause on their home search and wait until the next season to start again. With dramatically less competition, persistent buyers will feel the scales tip in their favor as eager sellers begin to cut their prices in an effort to entice a sale,” said George Ratiu, senior economist of realtor.com.
The market where this is more likely to happen in the West, where buyers will see about 30% less competition than the average week. Listing prices will go down 4%, and 9% of homes have reduced prices. In addition, there are 22% more active listings and will remain on the market 38% longer than its peak week.
Specifically, Seattle sees a 41.3% drop in competition; Portland, Oregon sees 35.5% less; Buffalo, New York 34.6%; Milwaukee, 32.8% and Minneapolis, 32.6%.
Other parts of the nation that saw price cuts include Denver with an 11% drop; Salt Lake City,, 10.8%; Seattle, 10.2% and Austin, Texas and Portland, both seeing a 9.9% drop.
There have been 116,000 new listings added to the market, 6.1% more than the average week and 76% more than the beginning of the year. Seattle has the most listings in the nation, with 41% more than the average week. Portland, Oregon followed suit with 30.9%; San Jose, California with 28.6%; Denver, with 27.2% and San Francisco, with 25.7%.
“As seasonal inventory builds up and restores itself to more buyer-friendly levels, fall buyers will be in a better position to take advantage of today’s low mortgage rates and increased purchasing power,” Ratiu said.
