When to list your Austin home

Most real-estate professionals—and interested amateurs—know that, in the US, the best time to put a home on the market is in the spring. What they might not know is precisely when new listings tend to make the most impact on the seller’s bottom line.

A new report from home listing site Zillow zooms in on those details, offering a regionally based analysis of its listings over the last several years. While the report confirms the generally accepted wisdom of spring sales, it also offers a breakdown of which months are best to list in different cities.

On a national basis, the study finds that listings that hit the market in early May in recent years sold for almost one percent more than expected—roughly $2,100 more for a typical home. Nationwide, homes listed in May sell more quickly overall, but those listed in late April sell the fastest—about one week faster than the median number of days for sales the country.

When it comes to Austin, the report finds that a listing date early May could get sellers the the best price, typically $2,900 more on the median. Homes listed then have historically sold 4.5 days faster than is typical as well.

A less surprising but still interesting part of the analysis shows that Saturday is typically the best day of the week to list an Austin home on Zillow (and everywhere else in the country) and that homes listed on the site that day average 105 more viewers during their first week than those listed on Tuesday, the worst day—important because views decline rapidly after the first week a home is listed.