Selling Property at Christmas

Selling property during Christmas can feel like a challenge. Especially when most people’s thoughts turn to busy festive plans, like gift shopping and family gatherings. It’s easy for thoughts of moving home to slip down the priority list during this time of year.

If your home is already on the market pre-Christmas but hasn’t found a buyer yet, you might be asking yourself two key questions.

First, should you take your home off the market and wait for the new year?

Second, whether it’s on or off the market, is there something you can do during the festive season to give your property the best chance of standing out as 2025 begins?

We explore these questions and offer some practical tips for selling property during Christmas.

Should I de-list my property during Christmas?

Unusually, I am in two minds about the tactic that works best.

If your home has been on for some weeks or months and remains without a buyer, you’re right to think it is less likely to be successful between now and, say, the middle of January.

But there ARE still buyers in the market even during Christmas! Those who are willing to give up on a trip to the Christmas market to attend a property viewing are – quite obviously – likely to be ‘driven’. And will not be merely curious neighbours.

It’s certainly the case that we live in more of a 24/7 365-days-a-year society now. If a buyer has a pressing need, typically driven by domestic or work circumstances, they will prioritise house hunting over present shopping for sure.

And always remember what agents call the Boxing Day Bounce. Property portals spend a fortune on advertising on Boxing Day and it pays off. There’s a huge surge in pages viewed, even before the turkey leftovers are turned into sandwiches. If you de-list until January, you’ll miss out on a potential audience looking for properties during Christmas.

Should I update the listing?

The answer to this is a very firm ‘Yes’. Whether you de-list and return to the market in the New Year. Or stick it out and keep your listing alive over the festivities. And if your property has been on sale from, say, September then it’s time for a refresh anyway.

So, whatever you choose for your house this Christmas. See the next few weeks as an opportunity to either change selling agent. If you are dissatisfied and your contract with the first agent allows you to change without cost. Or at the very least get your existing agent to use new images and rewrite the property details for better chances of selling during Christmas.

It may be time for the agent to use some new marketing techniques, too.

Perhaps images from a drone might show the property off best (many agents have drones now). Or would an Open House spark new interest? Heightened by invitations sent by your agent to some registered buyers yet to view your property?

New details, new images and a new marketing profile will help the property look fresh and prevent the listing from looking stale.

This may also be the time to reconsider the asking price if you have not done so already. If you’ve had thorough feedback from the agent following viewings, this will probably have touched upon price, and possibly other issues that deterred buyers. During Christmas, these changes could still make a significant difference.

This is the perfect time to address those issues, and again that applies whether the home is still listed or is offline having a breather until January. For successful selling property during Christmas, making these adjustments is crucial.

Christmas decorations: to tinsel or not to tinsel?

If you are taking your home off the market for eight weeks, you can put up the festive streamers with a vengeance! But if you are holding out for some later-year viewings, my advice is to keep things under strict control.

No one will be surprised to see some decorations in place in a home on the market. Especially if the sellers are families with children. But it is key to remember that there should be nothing that ‘gets in the way’ of a potential buyer seeing enough of every room to imagine their own belongings there. Or to work out whether they will use the rooms for different purposes. That, after all, is the objective of a viewing.

So too many decorations, or individual ones that are especially distracting, risk losing you a potential buyer. Anyway, you can have the fun of putting further decorations up on Christmas Eve once the coast is clear. And you know there will be no new viewings until early 2025.

Remember, it’s not over yet

This talk of Christmas might lead you to think that the housing market is all but shut (it isn’t!) I’ll be back in with further insights about the market.

But this is a time to reflect on how well your sale has gone so far and put right anything you believe needs a tweak before we all have too many mince pies. For those selling property as Christmas approaches, good luck!

Last Updated: December 13th, 2024