Have clients sitting on the fence waiting and waiting for the market to turn just a little bit more in their favor? Better get them moving: January is the least expensive month on the calendar to buy a house, according to a new LendingTree analysis.
If they wait until May, on the other hand, they’re likely to pay top dollar, for May is the priciest month of the year, the lender-matching service reports.
The company calls it the “$23,000 Secret.” That’s the difference between what buyers spend for a 1,500-square-foot house between January and May, LendingTree found.
“That’s a significant difference,” says Matt Schulz, LendingTree’s chief consumer finance analyst. “That can shave tens of thousands off the cost of the home, making something affordable that might not have been otherwise.”
Schultz also points out that the difference can also make it a little easier to reach 20% with a downpayment, and that’s “huge,” he says.
“If you reach that magic 20% mark, you can avoid paying private mortgage insurance, which can make a major difference in your monthly payments,” added Schultz.
May was the priciest month for buyers in 2024, at a median of $194.20 per square foot. January’s median was 8% lower at $178.60, while February’s was 5.4% lower at $183.70.
While the price-per-square-foot varies across home sizes, it always peaks in June and bottoms out in January. Homes under 1,500-square-feet ranged from $210.40 in January to $229.20 per square foot in May, an 8.2% variation in 2024, while larger homes at 3,500-square-feet or larger ranged from $150.50 to $167.40, a 10.1% variation.
For this study, LendingTree used sales data derived from assessor records, which include the last recorded sale date and price. The results indicate the month of the last sale, not the listing activity. Since closing on a home typically takes over 40 days, recorded sales often reflect contracts signed one to two months earlier.
The study found that Americans buy more homes in summer. They purchase 1.4 times houses from June to August than from December to February. Examining data from 2015 through 2024, 29.1% of total residential property sales occurred in the summer.
The spring season of March to May recorded the second-largest share of sales at 25.4%. September to November followed at 25.2%, while December to February ranked last at 20.2%.
Looking at 2024 alone, 9.9% of sales occurred in May — the highest by month, while January had the lowest at 6.3%.
