[M06/S01] When to List your Home for Sale

Updated October 2026

A perennial question for home owners is: when to list your home for sale? Conventional wisdom says that the spring or summer is the best time to sell. It’s true that the sales volume is higher during these months. There are more buyers out at this time – but there’s also a lot more inventory on the market you’ll need to compete with.

From a market standpoint, the best time to sell is ideally when supply and demand are inverted or, in other words, when there are more buyers than sellers. If you have some flexibility with your time frame, you can try to time your market entry by keeping track of the number of similar homes listed and how quickly listed homes sell, and put your home on the market when the coast is clear as it were.

As it happens, though, many home owners do not have the luxury of deciding to wait until the spring or summer to sell, or to monitor the market and put their home on at just the right time, when competition is weak and the buying public is out in force. The good news is, you can sell your home at any time of year and make yourself a good deal, if your home is properly prepared, presented, priced, and marketed. There are qualified buyers out there looking at homes winter, spring, summer, and fall.

Having said that, there are perhaps a few “blackout” periods where you might want to consider waiting to list. For example, it’s not a great idea to list your home for sale the week before Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, or any other holidays or events that mean many potential buyers for your home will be out of town or focused on activities other than buying real estate.

What the Latest Data Says for Silicon Valley

When Zillow analyzed 2025 sales across the 35 largest U.S. metros, the national sweet spot for listing was the last two weeks of May, worth about a 1.7% premium. San Jose was a different story. Homes in the San Jose metro listed in the first two weeks of February sold for about 3.1% more than average, roughly $53,800 on a typical home, which was the largest seasonal premium of any big metro (Zillow Research, March 2026). That matches what I see every year here: our spring market starts in February, when buyers with fresh bonuses and RSU vests are out in force and inventory hasn’t built up yet. If you can plan ahead, I’d start preparing in November and December so you’re ready to list in early February. For the full breakdown by season, month and day, read my guide to the best time to sell a house in San Jose and the Bay Area.