Sellers Prepare! Autumn Is The Busiest Season For Homebuying

New data insight from My Home Move Conveyancing reveals that autumn provides sellers with the best chance of selling their home, so now is the ideal time to be preparing their property to impress eager homebuyers.

The company has analysed monthly residential property transaction data on completions from the past five years (2019-2024)* to gain insight into which season* tends to see the highest transaction volume and, therefore, provides sellers with the best chance of selling their homes.

The data reveals that, from one year to the next, it’s almost always summer or autumn that see the most market activity, with the exception of the pandemic market influence spurred by the first stamp duty holiday which ran until spring 2021 before being extended.

In 2019/20, both the summer and autumn seasons accounted for 29.5% of all transactions seen over the 12 month period, the joint highest of all four seasons.

During the following year, 2020-21, spring actually saw the largest proportion of sales at 29.7%, the only time a season other than autumn or summer has been busier during the period analysed.

However, it’s important to note that this seasonal anomaly was no doubt due to the fact that there was a surge in buyer activity, as they looked to take advantage of the first pandemic stamp duty holiday ahead of the March 2021 deadline, before the government granted an extension.

In 2022-23, autumn once again saw the most sales (29.1%), and then last year (June 23-May 24), summer took the lead by a hair’s breadth with 26.7% compared to autumn’s 26.4%.

So while summer is commonly cited as the hottest season for the UK housing market, when you analyse the combined seasonal sales proportions across all five years, autumn actually comes out on top.

Between June 2019 - May 2024, the autumn season accounted for a total of 1.62m sales, equivalent to 27.3% of the total.

Meanwhile, summer’s combined sales of 1.55m accounts for just 26.2% of the total.

How to be ready to sell this autumn

For sellers who are hoping to take advantage of the spike in housing market activity this autumn, there are a number of ways in which they can prepare their homes to ensure they have the best chance of attracting a good buyer and a good price.

My Home Move Conveyancing has collated a guide to the most important things for sellers to consider including the fragrance of a home, its cleanliness and kerb appeal - and the full list can be viewed here.

Director of My Home Move Conveyancing, Alistair Singer, commented:
“There’s no doubt that summer is a busy time of year for the property market and it’s the perfect season to welcome potential buyers into your home to view it. However, there’s perhaps a common misconception that once the leaves start to brown the property market starts to wind down in the run up to the Christmas break.

"Whilst there’s certainly a dip in completed transaction levels during the winter months, the autumn season actually remains an incredibly busy one with respect to market activity and so sellers should rest assured that there is still plenty of opportunity to find a buyer in the current market.

"Feedback from our clients suggests getting in before Christmas, a fresh start in a new home in the new year or a move aligned to a new job are all reasons why an Autumn move is desirable.”

Data tables and sources
*Monthly residential transaction data sourced from the UK government.
*UK seasonal data sourced from the Met Office.

Full data tables and sources can be viewed online, here.