The Best Time To Sell Your House Is When Others Aren’t Selling

If you’re thinking about [selling](https://www.simplifyingthemarket.com/2023/04/19/falling-out-of-love-with-your-house-it-may-be-time-to-move/) your house, you should know the number of homes for sale right now is low. That’s because, this season, there are fewer sellers listing their houses for sale than the norm. Looking back at every [April](https://www.realtor.com/research/data/) since 2017, the only year when fewer sellers listed their homes was in April 2020, when the pandemic hit and stalled the housing market (_shown in red in the graph below_). In more typical years, roughly 500,000 sellers add their homes to the market in April. This year, we saw fewer than 400,000 sellers entering the market in April (_see graph below_): [](https://files.keepingcurrentmatters.com/content/images/20230510/20230511-the-number-of-sellers-listing-their-homes-is-lower-than-the-norm.png) While there are a number of factors contributing to this trend, one thing keeping inventory low right now is that some homeowners are reluctant to move when the mortgage rate they have on their current house is lower than the one they could get today on their next house. It’s called _rate lock_. As a recent survey from _Realtor.com_ [explains](https://news.move.com/2023-04-17-Realtor-com-R-Survey-82-of-Those-Looking-to-Buy-and-Sell-a-Home-Feel-Locked-In-by-Low-Mortgage-Rate)_,_ 56% of people who are planning to sell in the next 12 months say they’re waiting for rates to come down. While this _wait-and-see_ approach is right for some sellers, it also creates an opening for more eager sellers to jump in now. If your current house truly doesn’t fit your needs anymore and you’re ready to move, don’t miss this chance to [stand out](https://www.simplifyingthemarket.com/2023/02/20/spring-into-action-boost-your-homes-curb-appeal-with-expert-guidance/). When fewer sellers are putting their homes up for sale, buyers will have fewer options, so you set yourself up to get the most eyes possible on your house. That’s why your house could see [multiple offers](https://www.simplifyingthemarket.com/2023/04/11/the-big-advantage-if-you-sell-this-spring/) as buyers compete over the limited supply of homes for sale – especially if you [price it right](https://www.simplifyingthemarket.com/2023/04/13/want-to-sell-your-house-this-spring-price-it-right/). As Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist at the _National Association of Realtors_ (NAR), [says](https://themreport.com/news/data/03-21-2023/existing-home-sales): ###### _“Inventory levels are still at historic lows . . . Consequently, multiple offers are returning on a good number of properties.