Sellers should list their home on a Friday for the best chance of selling it, according to Seattle-based brokerage Redfin.
Redfin analyzed data for 1.2 million listings in 16 markets nationwide over the past 21 months. The brokerage found that of all listed homes in those 16 markets, those listed on a Friday were 12 percent more likely to sell within 90 days, and homes listed on a Thursday or Friday sold, on average, for slightly closer to list price: 94.4 percent compared with 93.9 percent when homes are listed on a Sunday or Monday. Put another way, that’s a $1,000 difference on a $200,000 home.
Homes listed on a Friday were also 18.8 percent more likely to be toured by Redfin customers. Homes listed on a Sunday or Monday were the least likely to be toured.
"Our theory is that since homebuyers tend to tour homes on the weekends (Saturday and Sunday have 2.5 times more tours per day than weekdays), homes listed on Fridays are the freshest in buyers’ minds when they’re making their weekend plans. It also seems likely that many homebuyers sort their weekend ‘must see’ lists by date listed, going to see the freshest homes first so they have the best chance of getting in on a potential good deal before other buyers," the brokerage said in a blog post about the findings.
"These factors put homes listed on Friday in front of more touring buyers on the weekend (which our touring data bears out). More tours leads to more offers, and more offers leads to a better price and a better chance of selling."
In one respect, Sunday beat out any other day of the week: Homes listed on Sunday attracted slightly more online page views than the average on Redfin.com.
While the vast majority of homes are listed on weekdays, no one weekday was especially popular, with between 17 percent and 19 percent of homes listed on any given weekday. About 19 percent of homes were listed on a Friday during the time period studied, Redfin reported.