Best time to sell a house: what the monthly figures show
Completions, asking prices and sold prices all follow a yearly pattern. It is smaller than the advice about spring suggests, and it runs months behind the offers that make it.
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The short answer
There is no single best time to sell a house. Averaged over 2019 and 2022 to 2024, HM Land Registry's counts show completed sales in England and Wales peaking from August to November and at their lowest in January.1 Completions follow offers by two to four months, on HMRC's figures,3 and a fixed personal date can outweigh the month.
When is the best time of year to sell a house?
Sales complete most often from August to November and least often in January. Those completions rest on offers agreed months earlier, largely in spring, so the time to list comes well before the busiest month. Completion is the day the money moves and the sale ends. The House Desk took HM Land Registry's monthly sales counts for England and Wales from the UK House Price Index, worked out each month's share of that year's total, and averaged the shares over 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2024.1 Spread evenly, each month would hold 8.3 per cent. The index's UK-wide counts give almost the same shares, 6.8 per cent in January and 9.5 per cent in August, so the pattern holds for the UK as a whole.
Share of a year's completions by month, England and Wales1
The peak moved from year to year. August was the busiest month in 2019 and 2023, September in 2022 and October in 2024. January was the quietest in three of the four years, and in 2023 April came in lower still.1
| Month | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Average share, those four years | 2025, distorted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57,204 | 60,863 | 53,003 | 43,872 | 6.8% | 57,791 |
| February | 60,537 | 69,794 | 52,516 | 49,724 | 7.3% | 66,127 |
| March | 68,845 | 79,594 | 60,757 | 57,034 | 8.3% | 124,505 |
| April | 63,569 | 72,026 | 43,300 | 51,258 | 7.1% | 34,663 |
| May | 70,666 | 72,036 | 47,057 | 62,564 | 7.9% | 54,728 |
| June | 72,998 | 75,427 | 59,637 | 61,027 | 8.4% | 65,227 |
| July | 77,919 | 80,693 | 54,940 | 68,180 | 8.8% | 70,685 |
| August | 83,384 | 83,348 | 62,327 | 74,290 | 9.5% | 73,595 |
| September | 72,943 | 83,653 | 60,626 | 66,435 | 8.9% | 69,745 |
| October | 78,914 | 80,220 | 59,030 | 77,625 | 9.3% | 79,774 |
| November | 81,196 | 81,739 | 57,260 | 74,622 | 9.2% | 64,950 |
| December | 74,630 | 77,302 | 54,931 | 68,748 | 8.6% | 57,908 |
| Year | 862,805 | 916,695 | 665,384 | 755,379 | 100% | 819,698 |
The index counts sales at full market value once they reach the register, leaves out commercial sales, and revises recent months as registrations arrive, so 2026 is not shown.2
Set the years side by side and the month looks smaller. January 2022, the quietest month of that year, recorded 60,863 completions. August 2023, the busiest month of its year, recorded 62,327.1 A slow month in a busy year came within a few per cent of the peak of a slow year.
Years left out, and why
We left out 2020 for the pandemic, and 2021 and 2025 because stamp duty deadlines pulled completions into the month before each change. The 2025 column stays in the table so the effect can be seen.
Events that bent the monthly counts
- April 2020 Completions collapse1 25,054 in England and Wales, against 63,569 in April 2019.
- March, June and September 2021 Stamp duty holiday deadlines3 HMRC ties the peaks to temporarily higher nil rate bands coming to an end.
- March and April 2025 Stamp duty thresholds cut from 1 April3 HMRC records a March peak from sales brought forward, then an April fall.
Rightmove leaves 2020 out of its own analysis of how long sales take, pointing to the volatility when the market reopened after the pandemic began.4
Why the busiest month is not the month to list
A completion count records the end of a sale, not the start. HMRC's August 2026 transactions commentary says completions come on average two to four months after the first offer.3 Rightmove's 2026 figure is longer: 154 days from sale agreed to the listing being taken down, after 62 days to find a buyer.4 The selling timeline times each stage and says where the figures disagree. Counting back from a mid-August completion on each basis gives this:
| Step | HMRC basis | Rightmove basis |
|---|---|---|
| Completion | Mid-August | Mid-August |
| Offer agreed | Mid-April to mid-June, two to four months earlier3 | Mid-March, 154 days earlier4 |
| Listed | Mid-February to mid-April, about two months before the offer | Mid-January, 62 days before the offer4 |
Plain arithmetic on national averages. The two months to find a buyer on the HMRC side uses Rightmove's figures, which ran 60 to 66 days from March to August 2026.15 Individual sales vary widely.
Read that way round, much of the August peak is spring business, with offers from about March to June on homes listed from about January to April. The same count puts January's quiet completions on offers agreed between September and November. The listing date is the one a seller controls, so that is the one to plan, and the timeline planner counts back from the day you want to complete.
When asking prices rise and fall through the year
Spring and early autumn are when asking prices usually rise. Rightmove, a property portal that sells advertising to estate agents, tracks the asking price of homes newly listed on its site and sets each month against its own long-run average. On those averages, prices go up in April, May, September and October and down in August, November and December.1115 These are asking prices, what sellers hope for, not what buyers paid.
| Month | Change that month | Rightmove's stated usual change for the month |
|---|---|---|
| October 2025 | Up 0.3% | Up 1.1%, ten-year average5 |
| November 2025 | Down 1.8% | Down 1.1%, ten-year average6 |
| December 2025 | Down 1.8% | Down 1.4%, ten-year average7 |
| January 2026 | Up 2.8% | No figure given. The largest January rise it has recorded8 |
| February 2026 | No change | No figure given9 |
| March 2026 | Up 0.8% | In line with its 20-year average, with no figure given10 |
| April 2026 | Up 0.8% | Up 1.2%, long-term average11 |
| May 2026 | Up 1.2% | Up 1.0%, ten-year average12 |
| June 2026 | Down 0.6% | A small rise is usual, with no figure given13 |
| July 2026 | Down 1.0% | Up 0.2%, ten-year average14 |
| August 2026 | Down 2.0% | Down 1.3%, ten-year average15 |
| September 2026 | Up 0.7% | Up 0.5%, ten-year average16 |
The last twelve months often missed the usual figure. June 2026 brought the largest June fall in fourteen years, and Rightmove described summer as typically slower than spring.13 In September it called that month usually busier, as movers come back from holidays.16
How long finding a buyer took, month by month
Finding a buyer took longest in January 2026, at 81 days, and least time in May 2026, at 60 days, on Rightmove's national figure for days to secure a buyer.15 In its previous twelve months the shortest were April and May 2025, both at 59 days.8
Days to secure a buyer, Rightmove, Great Britain15
A seller who secured a buyer in January 2026 had, on average, waited 81 days, so had listed around the end of October. Much of that wait fell over Christmas.
Is now a good time to sell a house?
On the latest figures, sellers face more competition than usual. Rightmove's September 2026 release counted more homes for sale than at this time of year in any of the last 12 years, with buyer enquiries 9 per cent below a year earlier.16 HMRC counted 106,620 residential completions across the UK in July 2026, 5 per cent more than in July 2025.3 These figures are updated each month in the House Desk Tracker. More homes for sale gives each buyer more choice. Why some homes are sitting unsold is covered in why houses are not selling at the moment.
What month do houses sell for the least?
March, on sold prices, though the difference is small. The UK House Price Index publishes the England and Wales average price twice for each month. One figure is as recorded, and the other is seasonally adjusted, with the usual swing for that time of year taken out.2 The gap between the two is the seasonal effect. We averaged it over the same four years.1
| Month | Recorded price against adjusted | Month | Recorded price against adjusted |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 0.0% | July | 1.2% above |
| February | 0.3% below | August | 1.6% above |
| March | 0.8% below | September | 1.4% above |
| April | 0.5% below | October | 1.1% above |
| May | 0.2% below | November | 0.8% above |
| June | 0.2% above | December | 0.6% above |
Our arithmetic: each month's recorded average divided by the adjusted average, minus one, then the four years averaged. UK House Price Index, read 28 September 2026.
From the March low to the August high is about 2.4 per cent of the average price. On the August 2024 England and Wales average of £282,020 that comes to about £6,800.1 That is arithmetic on an average across every sale, not a figure for any one home. Those prices were paid at completion on offers agreed months earlier, so the summer high largely reflects deals struck in spring. For what homes like yours actually sold for, search sold prices near you.
What is the hardest month to sell a house?
January, on these figures. It had the fewest completions in three of the four years we averaged, and in January 2026 buyers took longer to find than in any other month in Rightmove's table.115 Those January completions mostly rest on offers from the autumn.
A seller who lists in January meets returning buyers and rival listings in the same few weeks.
The two weeks after Christmas 2025, against the two weeks before (Rightmove)
Is it harder to sell a house in winter?
Slower to find a buyer, on these figures, but homes still sell through winter. December is close to an average month for completions, at 8.6 per cent of a year's total. January and February are the quiet ones, at 6.8 and 7.3 per cent.1 Asking prices usually fall in November and December, by 1.1 and 1.4 per cent on Rightmove's ten-year averages.67 Sold prices hardly move with the winter months. Their low point comes in March.
Dates that matter more than the month
A date in your own life can matter more than the month. A mortgage deal ending, an Inheritance Tax deadline, a tenant's notice period or the purchase of your next home each bring charges, legal notice periods or tax, and some cannot be moved. The seasonal gap in sold prices, by comparison, is about 2.4 per cent from low to high.
| Your situation | The date that matters | Read next |
|---|---|---|
| A fixed or discounted mortgage deal | Repaying during the deal can bring an early repayment charge. Your mortgage offer must state the maximum.17 | Early repayment charges |
| An inherited home | Inheritance Tax is due by the end of the sixth month after the death. HMRC charges interest after that.18 | Tax deadlines on an estate |
| A tenanted home in England | Ground 1A, the possession ground for a landlord who is selling, needs four months' notice.19 Wales and Scotland have their own rules. | Selling with tenants |
| Buying your next home | A sale can take longer when you are part of a chain of buyers and sellers.20 | Sale timings |
Start from the date you cannot move, such as the end of your fixed rate or the tax deadline on an estate, and count back about two months to find a buyer and another two to five months to complete. If that puts your listing in a quiet month, ask your agent how many similar homes nearby have just come on the market, because those are the homes your buyers will be weighing against yours.
Haroon Ali Author, The House Desk. Over 11 years in property and renovation Questions people ask about when to sell
Is December a bad time to sell a house?
December is the month asking prices usually slip, by 1.4 per cent on Rightmove’s ten-year average. It also leads into the fortnight after Christmas, when new listings after Christmas 2025 ran 81 per cent above the two weeks before. An offer agreed in December would, on HMRC’s two to four months, complete between February and April.
Should I take my house off the market over winter?
We found no published evidence that a winter break helps a home sell. Finding a buyer took longest in January 2026, at 81 days on Rightmove, and a home relisted after Christmas joins a jump in new listings as well as in buyers. The monthly figures cannot tell you whether a pause suits your own date.
Is March a good time to sell a house?
March is an ordinary month on most measures here. It averaged 8.3 per cent of a year’s completions, close to an even share, though sold prices ran about 0.8 per cent below trend, their low point. Rightmove’s asking prices rose 0.8 per cent in March 2026, in line with its 20-year average, and finding a buyer took 66 days.
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Sources
(20)
Numbers in the text link to these. Each was read on the date shown. How we research
- UK House Price Index linked data: England and Wales, by month (August 2024 record shown)
- About the UK House Price Index
- UK monthly property transactions commentary (release of 28 August 2026, data to July 2026)
- North-South divide for time to move as Londoners see longest wait
- Rightmove House Price Index, October 2025
- Rightmove House Price Index, November 2025
- Rightmove House Price Index, December 2025
- Rightmove House Price Index, January 2026
- Rightmove House Price Index, February 2026
- Rightmove House Price Index, March 2026
- Rightmove House Price Index, April 2026
- Rightmove House Price Index, May 2026
- Rightmove House Price Index, June 2026
- Rightmove House Price Index, July 2026
- Rightmove House Price Index, August 2026
- Rightmove House Price Index, September 2026
- MCOB 12.3 Early repayment charges: regulated mortgage contracts
- Pay your Inheritance Tax bill
- Housing Act 1988, section 8 (notice of proceedings for possession), as amended
- Selling a home