Ho, Ho, Home Buying? Here Are the Top Markets to Buy a House During the Holidays

The holidays are a time of celebration and togetherness—but also of hectic planning, weird family hassles, high stress, and lousy weather in much of the U.S. Plus “Love Actually” and “Die Hard” are on basic cable around the clock! It all adds up to the very worst time of year to buy a home. Right?

Spoiler: Not necessarily! In some parts of the country, the holiday season can actually be a bonanza for buyers. You just need to know where to look. The realtor.com data team uncovered 10 markets where sales are particularly strong during the holidays. And you might be surprised by some of the entries on this list.

So what can make the holiday season such a great time to buy? From Thanksgiving through early January, fewer people are looking for properties, so there’s a lot less competition. Buyers are likely to get more undivided attention from sellers, and, because this is the time of year when people burn off vacation days, they may have more time on their hands to dedicate to home search.

“This time of the year is a traditional vacation period, so buyers have time to look at homes and not just on weekends, which gives them more flexibility,” says George Ratiu, senior economist at realtor.com®. “And sellers can spend time showing their houses in a less frantic environment.”

Bad weather bonus: In colder or rainier climates, viewing a property during the winter allows you to see how it holds up to the elements.

“You can get a much more realistic picture,” says Ratiu.  

To figure out where the most homes are flying off the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/New Year’s/Festivus shelves, realtor.com looked at sales in the 100 largest metros from Nov. 19, 2018, through Dec. 31, 2018, and then compared the numbers with all of the sales in those metros in 2018. (Metros include the main cities, plus the surrounding towns, suburbs, and smaller cities.)

Happy holidays and happier home searching!

See Original Article at:

https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/top-markets-where-sales-were-the-strongest-during-the-holiday-season/