How to Handle a Year-Round Homebuying Season

Traditionally, the spring months herald the beginning of homebuying season. But major shifts in the housing market disrupted seasonal patterns in 2020 and 2021, and the changes may be long-lasting. Here's what's different, as well as approaches that buyers and sellers can take in what's become a year-round homebuying season.

Why spring was historically the time to sell

Home sales traditionally fall on a bell curve, with an increase in spring, a peak in early summer and then a gradual tapering as the market heads into fall. Looking back just a few years, existing home sales in 2018 and 2019 followed this pattern.

There are plenty of simple reasons for seasonality. Between December holidays, inclement weather and not wanting to pull up roots mid-school year, selling tended to slow down in the winter months. Heading into spring, most markets would begin to liven up.

"Late February to early March up until roughly June or July, we would see a spike in buyer activity," says Terry Hendricks, a real estate agent with Re/Max DFW in Frisco, Texas. Now, Hendricks says, the market's changed. "It's springtime all year long. That's what it's like."

Now, it’s always homebuying season

The supercharged housing market that began in early 2020 has thrown these patterns into disarray. Existing home sales in 2020 and 2021 don't follow a curve; instead, jagged lines lurch up and down (but mostly up).

An outsized number of buyers and a dearth of available homes means the season hardly matters. Matthew Atwood, owner of Century 21 Atwood in Mankato, Minnesota, says despite extreme cold, "we're off to the strongest January-February we've had in a long, long time." Buyers are ready to jump on any property that hits the market.

In today's market, "the best time to sell is whenever you want to put a sign in your yard, and the best time to buy is whenever you finally have an offer go through," says Maura Neill, an agent with Re/Max Around Atlanta.