Best time of year to sell?
I was curious whether the time of the year to list multifamily for sale mattered and if so, when was the best time? Below are charts showing the total cumulative number of closings per quarter, per market, for the years 2015 thru 2018. One chart is for over 100 unit closings and the other is for under 100 unit closings. For example, in the over 100 unit chart for Gainesville, there have been 10 total closings in the first quarter (Q1) and 11 total closings in the second quarter (Q2) for all 4 years combined.
The bar graphs below the charts analyze the total number of closings, by quarter, for the 4 years combined. Based on this data, and considering most deals take 60-90 days to close, I believe the optimum time to LIST your property for sale is anytime between March and August. This puts you closing in the late 2nd quarter to early 3rd quarter because 1) most of the 1st quarter listings have sold by the 2nd quarter (eliminating competition), and 2) there are fewer 3rd quarter closings creating a nice little niche time period to close. We all know once you hit mid-November, deal flow slows.
Conversely, the least optimum time to list is between mid-November (holidays thru mid-January) and end of February (flood of listings hit the market January and February).