This Is the Best Time To Sell Your Home: Lower Mortgage Rates and Inventory Bump ‘Inject Life Back Into the Market’

Spring is fast-approaching, and with it comes home sellers who are itching to list their homes on the market.

Sellers will want to look ahead to the week of April 13–19 as it is the best time to sell, according to a new report by Realtor.com® economists.

During this time, buyer demand is typically higher than usual, combined with a faster market pace, lower competition, and fewer price cuts.

“At a national level, this week represents a balanced selection of market conditions that favor sellers,” says Hannah Jones, Realtor.com senior economic research analyst. “By balancing prices, inventory, demand, and market pace, sellers are expected to have a better-than-average selling experience by taking advantage of the best week.”

Jones adds that although affordability will continue to be a challenge for buyers, lower mortgage rates in the mid-6% range and a boost in inventory are expected to “inject some life back into the market.”

In previous years, homes listed during this week in spring have fetched prices 1.1% higher than the average week throughout the year, and 6.7% higher than the start of the year.

In terms of actual dollar amounts, a strategic home seller who lists their property during the best week to sell stands to gain about $4,800 more compared with a typical week, and $27,000 more than at the beginning of 2025.

More buyers are also set to flock to Realtor.com listings, with a typical listing drawing 17.7% more views than during an average week.

“The number of buyers browsing a listing can determine how many offers a home gets and how quickly it sells. The more buyers looking at a home, the better for the seller,” Jones says.

She adds that there is also a good chance that demand will surge sooner this spring, thanks to improved inventory and slowing price growth.

A typical seller should expect to see their home snapped up 17%—or 9 days—faster during the week of April 13–19. If demand picks up even higher this spring, driven by highly motivated buyers, the pace of the market could be even brisker than that.

Another factor is lower-than-usual competition from other sellers, with 13.2% fewer homeowners present on the market compared with the average week.

On top of that, the spring season brings the year’s lowest level of price cuts—and during the best week identified by Realtor.com, about 20.9% fewer homes have seen their asking price slashed than a typical week.

To pinpoint the best week to sell a home, Realtor.com economists looked at seasonal trends from 2018 until 2024 (excluding 2020, which marked the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic) and calculated a Best Time To Sell score for each week of the year, based on a combination of housing metrics most favorable toward sellers. Those included competition, listing prices, market pace, likelihood of price reductions, and homebuyer demand.

Notably, mortgage rates were not factored into the score because they do not follow a seasonal pattern.

Hope for 2025 selling season after a rough 2024

The housing market had been put through the wringer in 2024, with stubbornly high mortgage rates in the high-6% to low-7% range, keeping both buyers and sellers on the sidelines for much of the year.

Home listing prices peaked for 2024 at a median of $439,000 nationally last June, falling short of the previous year and 2022’s all-time high, but not enough to make it sufficiently affordable for would-be buyers to come off the fence.

For comparison, the national median list price last month was $412,000, according to the Realtor.com February 2025 Monthly Housing Trends Report.

Meanwhile, home sale prices lurched in the opposite direction, with the median home sale price climbing to a new high in June.

The one bright spot in 2024 was increased inventory levels, with more homes hitting the market than in any year since the start of the pandemic. While home prices remained high, buyers in many regional markets had a bevy of options to choose from, giving them more leverage over sellers.

The end of 2024 and the first months of 2025 saw the “lock-in” effect, which has kept many homeowners unwilling to list their homes for fear of giving up their existing low mortgage rates, beginning to ease, resulting in improved inventory levels. Despite that, the number of homes for sale is still more than 20% below the 2019 benchmark.

Realtor.com economists project that throughout 2025, continued lowering of mortgage rates will bring them closer to rates homeowners pay on outstanding mortgage debt, which will encourage more of them to list their homes, boosting inventory levels. A spurt of new construction should help with that as well.

“This year’s housing market will hinge on improved affordability conditions, which will be highly dependent on falling mortgage rates and climbing inventory,” says Jones.

Uncertainty around economic policies raises questions

Less than two months into President Donald Trump‘s second term, it remains unclear how his policies would affect the economy and the housing market.

Trump’s tariff war is expected to hit U.S. homebuilders, who rely on foreign-made construction materials, particularly hard, and the additional costs will inevitably be passed along to buyers.

National Association of Home Builders Chief Economist Robert Dietz estimates the tariffs, once fully in effect, could add up to $10,000 to the cost of building a typical single-family home. That, in turn, could hurt the housing market through both higher inflation and limited construction activity.

“On the other hand, the administration has signaled their intent to address housing affordability, which could benefit the market,” says Jones. “It is too soon to tell how these proposals will play out, and it’s important to acknowledge that individual perspectives can influence whether policies create more or less enthusiasm.”

What does it mean for sellers?

While the housing market remains undersupplied, a seller listing a well-priced, move-in ready home should have little problem finding a buyer.

Sellers should start to get the ball rolling in the spring, when real estate activity is high and there are plenty of eager buyers casting about for homes, rather than wait for later in the year.

While prices tend to peak by the end of June, so does the competition. To avoid a crowded market, sellers are encouraged to list their property during the spring months, which should boost their odds of a successful closing on favorable terms.

“Sellers will want to remember that it’s a process and get started well before their intended listing date,” reminds Jones. 

What does it mean for buyers?

For the past couple of years, buyers have been on a roller-coaster ride, with mortgage rates topping 7% at the end of last year, before finally starting to come down since the start of 2025. There has been a silver lining in the form of improving market conditions.

There are more homes for sale now than in years past, which equates to a slower market, more flexible sellers, and a greater share of properties with price cuts.

“This means that though buyers face still-high housing costs, they may find a bit more give in the market, which could give them more time to make a decision, even in the busy spring and summer months,” Jones says.

Persistent house hunters who choose to carry on with their search for their dream home will be rewarded by having more options to choose from in the coming weeks.