What’s the Best Time to Sell Property? Myth vs Reality

Riddle me this: On which day does the Rightmove site in the UK receive the greatest number of visitors? Middle of summer? Spring? Early Autumn?

No – according to Rightmove themselves, the busiest day for visits to their website is Boxing Day!

Now, while that’s a fascinating little trivia quiz nugget, and also one of Ross’ favourite factoids, there is a reason we’ve started this article off with that bit of information.

There is much said about the property market in the UK, some of it is even true. It is also a demonstrable fact that while there are a number of ‘truths’ within the market, a lot of what people will tell you is simply myth.

Since we’re looking at the best time to sell your rental property in this article, it’s sensible to get that caveat out there early on, otherwise some readers will be sat there going “well, actually, Spring is the Very Best Time to Sell™”.

At the risk of dropping a spoiler, there is no truly bad time to sell, with the exception of Christmas day, and holding off until some perceived ‘right time’ may not be doing you any favours.

As experienced professionals, who deal with sales and purchases daily, we do have a bit of relevant experience, so let’s look at the best time to sell property.

Timing is everything – or is it?

Back in 2022, we covered this subject, and suggested that if you were selling with vacant possession, timing might have some effect on the sale.

We dealt with sales to other investors in a fairly peremptory fashion, suggesting that for property investors, a good deal is a good deal, whether it’s high summer or a month before Christmas.

As far as other investors are concerned, this remains true. The one thing that might put them off is a period of protracted uncertainty, rather than a particularly wet May.

As discussed in a previous article, global uncertainty leads quite rapidly to local uncertainty and this can affect the availability of cost-effective credit and increased costs.

Unlike the seasons (ok, Scotland is a poor example here), uncertainty is, by its nature, uncertain; you’ve no cast-iron way of knowing when it’ll end, and this impacts sellers and buyers alike.

A seller, thinking of disposing of an ex-rental may be keen to avoid a protracted void period in a soft market, and an investor may be keen to add to their portfolio, but wary of increased costs in order to do so.

Higher interest rates can often outlive the events which created them.

Sales with tenants in-situ may be subject to tougher negotiations as the buyer tries to offset some of those increased costs with a lower offer.

However, none of this has anything to do with school term times or whether the garden looks particularly splendid, and will therefore happen at any point during the year.

Selling an ex-rental with vacant possession

Once you embark upon the sale of your ex-rental as a vacant possession aiming to maximise your returns on the residential market, then timing might start to matter.

There is no shortage of advice on the best time to sell property and how important this is when planning a sale, some of it, honestly, a bit contradictory.

Rightmove suggests January and February are the best months to put a property on the market, attracting buyers looking to make a change in the new year. Apparently these properties have the quickest average time to sell.

Excellent! But – they then go on to note that house buyers are likely to be in the early stages of their search and it may take some time before they have seen enough properties to feel that they can place an offer. Not quite so great.

However, next comes spring, the most popular time to buy and sell, as longer daylight hours and (hopefully) better weather make properties look better. It can be a busy period so plan ahead.

Traditional wisdom says there is a slow-down in summer, as people go on holiday and schools break up for the long break. So, why do some sources show that July has the highest number of sales agreed?

What about autumn? There seems to be a bit of a filip in transactions generally put down to those who want to get the summer break out of the way before taking on the property market.

The one agreement across various sources is that December is not a great time to put your house on the market, with Christmas looming no-one really needs that additional stress.

There is also general agreement that winter in general isn’t the best time to sell, although estate agents do speak of ‘motivated buyers’ whose interest might make it worth a seller’s time to list in the ‘off-season’.

Advice from the property pros

If you’re considering a sale with tenants in-situ, there may be an argument for avoiding December, but beyond that we would say go for it. Investment buyers are a very different market compared to homebuyers.

If you are contemplating offering your ex-rental into the residential market, it may be worth taking a look at some of the statistics compiled on the number of transactions by month as they may offer a clue to the best time to sell property.

Naturally the government publishes such statistics publishes such statistics, as do other parties and the figures are interesting. We accept that they always run behind the market because they have to be collated but there are some clear trends.

Both government figures and those from Statista for 2025 point to March – June as the peak selling period, with a further, but lesser, peak around October. Looking further back tends to reinforce this pattern, although 2025 was a year of extremes.

It may be worth pointing out that the lowest point, in terms of transactions in 2025 was April, during which there were still nearly 44,000 completed sales. 2025 does appear to have been a bit exceptional in the pattern of sales.

Probably the most accurate advice we can give is that it’s wise to avoid selling in winter if you can!

Statistical evidence from previous years would suggest that spring and summer tend to be peak times, with a late rally normally in October. That’s a substantial chunk of the year to choose from.

If we had to choose, marketing earlier in the year seems to offer the best prospects of moving your property, however, even in winter, the property market doesn’t sleep, which is some comfort if circumstances dictate listing then.

In summary…

It would seem then that not everything estate agents say has to be taken with a pinch of salt! As agents ourselves, obviously we’re pleased to see that even if you’ll forgive us for roundly disparaging the stereotype.

Hitting the market early in the year, if not too early, seems to lead to the greatest success in terms of completed sales and we wonder if the October spike is caused by summer listings finally reaching completion.

So while there is some truth, supported by statistics, in the advice given regarding when to put your property on the market, some of the advice is not wholly accurate – we’re looking at the Summer Slowdown trope here.

The property investment market is different, as buyers criteria are different, and we have written about this in previous articles.

As ever, we are always happy to discuss which options are best for you when it comes to moving your property on. Our expertise covers both the investment and residential markets. Just get in touch to arrange a chat.

So, as ever, the myths surrounding when to sell have a modicum of truth to them, although the statistics may give you a better overall view of the market.

Thanks for reading!

Written by Ross MacDonald, Director of Sales & Cofounder of Portolio

Get in touch on 07388 361 564 or email to [email protected]