Winter may be a better time than spring to sell your property: survey

Vendors should not follow the herd and wait until spring to sell their homes, according to a survey of 25 real estate professionals who will be speaking at a series of property conference organised by Ideas Exchange, which begin in Melbourne today. 

Only 10% of respondents said they would recommend that vendors wait until the spring season with 90% recommending that vendors “Sell it whenever is convenient for you.” 

And respondents did not believe that vendors earned more if a property was sold during the busiest time of the year with 90% of respondents saying they believed you earned “about the same". 

A smaller, but overwhelming majority - 70% of respondents - believe that houses sold as fast at spring as during other times of the year, with only 10% saying they sold faster during spring.

Leanne Howard, managing director of the Real Estate Project, which owns Ideas Exchange, said the results show that every month can be an “equally good” time to sell. 

“This is valuable information for any agent meeting with a vendor this winter, and for any vendor meeting with an agent,” she says.

BradfieldCleary director and auctioneer Bob Guth agrees with these sentiments, blogging that for many years “we have achieved excellent results during winter months”

He quotes an article written by Carolyn Boyd from Talking Property, who says that arrival of cold weather in southern Australia does not mean people stop looking to buy. 

Alex Schiavo, director of Kay & Burton South Yarra and Albert Park in Melbourne, is another estate agent who believes winter is a great time to sell based on the dynamics of supply and demand. 

“In winter there is always a lot less property available and we are still getting great results," he says. 

Cameron Deal from Infolio Property Advisors told Melbourne Property TV last autumn that a lot of property transacted through winter. 

“It’s sometimes better for a vendor to sell in winter because there’s less competition amongst other properties,” he says. 

A similar sentiment is echoed by Fletchers director Tim Fletcher, who says  if you decide to sell your most important asset over the winter period you’ll join a small number of people who are selling because most people either do it over autumn or spring.”

“So I think it’s a smart move to think about selling when there are fewer properties on the market.”

Information on the Ideas Exchange series of conferences in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney can be found here.