When it comes to picking a day of the week to list your client’s home for sale, Thursday appears to be the best choice, according to a new report from Zillow Research. Based on home-sales data from 2019, homes listed on Thursdays spent less time on the market than those listed on other days and sold above asking price more frequently.

Daily matters

The findings come from an analysis of home sales in the nation’s 25 largest markets from the last full pre-pandemic year. The report’s authors noted that this made 2019 the most recent year with data that was both reliable and consistent with seasonal trends. In addition to analyzing the performance of homes listed on different days, researchers also analyzed the speed and price of homes listed during different times of year. Their conclusion? “List it before Labor Day.”

The analysis seems to confirm something that many real estate agents already seem to know, or at least suspect. Nationwide, 21% of homes were listed on Thursdays in 2019, making it the most common day of the week. And agents in the Northwest were particularly savvy. Of the 25 markets in the study, Seattle and Portland led the nation, with more than a third of their clients’ homes listed on Thursdays.

On the other end of the spectrum, homes listed on Sundays tended to stay on the market longer than those listed on other days. And homes listed on Sundays and Saturdays were least likely to sell above their asking price.

Seasons and segments

In terms of seasonality, listings from the weeks of March 11 and March 18 came off the market quickest in 2019, Homes sold slowest during the week ending Sept. 1, which coincided with Labor Day weekend that year. Homes sold above their asking price most frequently during the week of April 22, while the weeks of Oct. 14 and Oct. 21 saw the fewest rates of above-ask sales.

Across price segments, homes in the top-third price tier came off the market about three weeks faster in mid-March nationwide than they did in July–August, the slowest time of year for the most expensive homes. The least expensive homes sold above ask most frequently when listed April, while homes in this price group sold above ask with least frequency when listed in October.

The report’s authors stated that this latter trend might have been the result of younger parents on tighter budgets wanting to get into their new home “prior to the return of school in the fall.”

Changing times

Zillow’s researchers also acknowledge that market conditions are rapidly changing. Most markets did not experience the traditional slowdowns this past fall and winter, and “it remains an open question whether 2021 will bring a return to normalcy.”