The best month to buy a home in the U.S. is rapidly approaching.
January, according to research from LendingTree, is the month homebuyers can save a bundle – roughly $23,000 on the typical 1,500-square-foot single-family house.
The reason: The first month of the year is the slowest for house sales. In 2024, May accounted for the highest share of sales at 9.9%, while January accounted for 6.3%.
May also was the priciest month last year at a median of $194.20 per square foot. But January’s median was 8.0% lower at $178.60, meaning buying a 1,500-square-foot home in January instead of May could save you $23,400.
Historically, between 2015-2024, only 6.3% of total sales took place is January. So buyers who are waiting until spring, when 29.1% of all residential sales were made, are missing out.
The price differential is “significant,” notes Matt Schulz, LendingTree’s chief consumer finance analyst. It can make “something affordable that might not have been otherwise.”
It also can make it somewhat easier to reach a 20% downpayment, which Schulz says is “huge.” “If you reach that magic 20% mark, you can avoid paying private mortgage insurance, which can make a major difference in your monthly payments,” he says.
Of course, house hunting in the summer has its attractions. School’s out, so buyers don’t have to uproot their kids in the middle of a school year, which can be traumatic. The longer days also make it easier to tour houses than during the shorter winter months.
And then, too, the weather’s usually much nicer.
But there’s less competition in the winter. Better yet, sellers who have had their places on the market over the holiday months with not even a nibble often get antsy, enough so that they are ready to lower their prices and bargain with anyone who shows even a little interest.
According to the LendingTree study, houses are on the market longer in the winter.
In January, newly listed homes linger on the market for a median of 75 days before they capture a buyer, the slowest sales pace of the year. From April to June, on the other hand, this median drops to 48 days.
At the same time, though, the inventory of houses for sale is lowest in the winter, especially in colder climate markets. The number of active listings peaks in summer and bottoms out in winter. From July 2016 through June 2025, according to the study, July had the most listings at nearly 10 million nationwide, while February had the fewest at 7.1 million.
Obviously, most buyers can’t time the market. You have to buy when you have to. But if you can wait to make the leap in January, it’s worth it, says Schulz.
“It’s crazy expensive to buy a home, so if there’s a strategy that could potentially cut someone’s costs by 25%, they’d be foolish not to at least consider it,” said Schulz. “This is especially true for first-time homebuyers because they’re not burdened with trying to sell their current home for the highest price possible.”
