Midwinter can traditionally be bleak for the housing market, for the simple reason that buyers and sellers alike have other priorities on their minds than preparing for a house move.
The winter slump up from November until Boxing Day typically coincides with a slight drop in the average housing prices, as well as fewer enquiries to estate agents and fewer properties entering the market, similar to the traditional summer slump when many buyers and sellers are on holiday.
People usually want to stay where they are over the holiday period and have other priorities and financial obligations to concern themselves with, but what is quite unusual is just how quickly that can change, as the new year brings with it a surge in interest.
This can start as early as Boxing Day, but certainly by early January people are putting serious consideration into where they want to end the year, and as the weather gets warmer and brighter, sellers start to look into getting started with putting their homes on the market.
Of course, the buying process taken in its entirety is longer than one might expect, with people doing their initial speculative searches from Boxing Day onwards, and as these prospective buyers find more homes close to what they want, activity on the market tends to gradually increase.
Whilst it can often vary, traditionally the very best month in terms of buying activity is May, as this provides enough time after the Easter holiday for people to seriously examine what they want out of a house, enough time to arrange finance with mortgage providers and to pass conveyancing requirements.
However, whilst that is officially when the most sales are, the best time to start the process of buying or selling your house is early into the new year, getting in touch with an estate agent and asking about what you would like to see in a home.
