Property data curator ATTOM released its annual analysis showcasing the best days of the year to buy a home, which found that while October continues to offer lower premiums for homebuyers, the single best day to buy a home is in January.
According to ATTOM’s latest analysis of more than 47 million single-family home and condo sales over the past 10 years, buyers who close on Jan. 9 are seeing the lowest premium above the automated valuation model (AVM). While still above market value, homebuyers are only paying a 3.8 percent premium, compared with the 14.4 percent premium buyers are seeing on May 28.
Other days of the year offering lower premiums for homebuyers include Dec. 4 (4.4 percent premium above market value); Oct. 9 (4.4 percent premium); Oct. 2 (4.5 percent premium); Oct. 10 (4.5 percent premium); and Sept. 7 (4.6 percent premium).
Nationally, the best months to buy are October (6.2 percent premium above market value); September (6.8 percent premium); November (6.8 percent premium); December (6.9 percent premium); and August (7.6 percent premium).
According to ATTOM, states realizing the biggest discounts below full market value are Michigan (-2.6 percent in October); New Hampshire (-2.1 percent in December); Hawaii (-1.8 percent in June); New Jersey (-1.7 percent in February); and Illinois (-1.6 percent in October).
For this analysis ATTOM looked at any calendar day in the last 10 years (2013 to 2022) with at least 15,000 single-family home and condo sales. There were 362 days (including leap year data) that matched these criteria, with the four exceptions being Jan. 1, July 4, Nov. 11, and Dec. 25.
To calculate the premium or discount paid on a given day, ATTOM compared the median sales price for homes with a purchase closing on that day with the median AVM for those same homes at the time of sale.