What are the best times of year to buy a house?

My biggest goal for 2018 is to buy a home with my husband. After a decade of renting, it’s an exciting step for our little family.

We have been keeping an eye on listings for a while now; sending each other links of potential properties and discussing the realities of our “must have” verses “nice to have” lists. But now that our loan application is under way, we are ready!

Unfortunately, the market isn’t ready for us – new listings in our neighbourhood have been slim pickings since December.

While there have been fewer properties on the market, experts say that this time of year is actually an ideal time to buy a house. Daniel Baxter, co-founder of Your Hot Property explains why that might be. “Vendors are generally pretty motivated to sell in the new year. They usually have a self-imposed deadline of trying to sell before the end of the school holidays, especially if their property has been on the market for a while,” he says.

The good news for buyers is that while there are fewer properties to choose from, you could end up with a really good deal. “Vendors are more likely to entertain offers they may have dismissed before,” Baxter notes.

David Winning, director of Your Move Conveyancing, agrees, “there are opportunities for savvy buyers to get a deal done with an owner who simply wants a quick sale”.

Of course, January isn’t the only good time of year to buy. But what other seasons are popular?

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Winning says that in his experience there are two prominent cycles throughout the year.

“The first cycle is immediately after Easter and intensifying into the end of financial year and the second cycle comes in the last quarter; October through to December where transaction numbers generally spike higher than any other time of the year,” he says.

This can vary from city to city and state to state for all sorts of reasons. “Property markets are affected by completely different conditions, some being more focused on tourism booms, mining and agriculture, government projects, as well as areas that might have a high concentration of investor activity. For those reasons, buyers and sellers will have different motivations as to why they choose a particular time of year to transact,” says Winning.

“Capital cities where work and schooling factors will be more prominent, will usually see more activity in the last quarter of the year where both buyers and sellers are looking to plan for the new year,” he says.

Conversely, Gayle Fitzpatrick, a consultant at property investment group  Binvested, says that if you are keen to buy there will always be a property that fits the bill, regardless of the time of year. “I find [the market] consistent throughout the year as a buyer,” she says.

Fitzpatrick also notes that, in her experience, the property market is steady from state to state. “We deal with hundreds of purchases each month [around the country]. Out of those purchases, we see consistency across the market,” she says.

Ultimately though, there is a best time of year to buy – and that’s the time of year that works best for you.

Marco Carabott, property consultant at Ray White Glynde, agrees that personal circumstances are incredibly important in deciding when to start looking for property. “Is there a time of the year where your work or home is extremely busy?” he says. “Everyone’s situation is different; you need to work out what’s best for you.”