Seasonality (i.e., changes in housing prices by month / season) can have a significant impact on the price you ultimately pay for you house. The general idea is:
- More people begin looking for homes in early Spring
- Increased interest drives up competition, which ultimately drives up prices
- Geography (i.e., City, State) and annual weather trends can impact this
You can find any number of articles (like this and this) that provide support for and additional data on this trend; however, we wanted to provide some more detailed data focused on the Charlotte area.
Since 2014, prices in Charlotte have shown a fairly stable trend – prices increase in March, then slowly increase through November, when they start to drop off until starting to recover in February of the following year. It’s often difficult to purchase during the winter months, but these are the best months to purchase a home when you are able.
If you are planning to stay in your home for awhile, when you purchase a home should not have a significant impact on your overall return; however, if you may need to sell your home in the short term, purchasing in the late summer months presents some risk (you will need to wait until March of the following year, if you want to list the home for an amount greater than you purchased it for).
If you are interested in learning more about how prices have changed in the Charlotte area, you can read our analysis on recent price increases.