Spring selling tips: Is spring the best time to sell a house?

Do you feel it – the collective lifting of spirits, as the sun emerges and the flowers begin to bloom?

Like us, our homes flourish in spring. Every year, the change of season brings on a flurry of buyers and sellers, creating activity in the market nationally.

If you’re planning to sell in the spring, it’s worth knowing a few tips to help you achieve the best results.

Domain asked agents how sellers can stay competitive in a sea of listings.

Spring selling tips agents give to their clients

Nail the first impression

Steve Burke, principal director at Belle Property Glen Iris, is an auctioneer with over two decades of selling experience.

He says first impressions – particularly with the garden and facade – are essential, whether prospective buyers are seeing your home online or in person.

“It’s good to get the house looking as sharp as possible, particularly for street appeal,” he says.

“The garden area is a huge asset to the home, so make sure that it looks really crisp: clean path with the edges done.

“We often go for the black coloured bark, which contrasts beautifully with brick or the colour of the timber.

“Extra plants can make it look as appealing as possible.”

Find the highlight of your home

Ask yourself: what’s the best, or most unique feature of your home?

Once you’ve worked this out, Burke says it’s a matter of doing everything you can to maximise that attribute.

“There’s a reason people turn up to look at a home and we can’t, as agents, always assume we know what it is … there are obviously advantages to different homes and playing to those strengths is key,” Burke explains.

If your home’s standout characteristics are best enjoyed in the warmer months – whether it’s a swimming pool or an outdoor area – selling in spring could help you achieve a better outcome.

This is the view of Jordan Dias from Harris Tripp: an agent based in Sydney’s inner west who has sold 73 properties in the past 12 months.

“If you’ve got a home that’s more tailored towards the spring and summer season, that is absolutely the best time to do it, or else you could be compromising on dollars based off the weather and the propensity of buyers,” Dias says.

Get the timing right

When it comes to listing your home, Dias suggests timing open-for-inspections for when the property is looking its best.

“Every property is different. Something might need to be shown in the afternoon to capture the best natural light,” he says.

“It’s really the best time for a home to present, especially if you’re east or north-east facing: your home will shine the best.”

He warns against leaving things too late: buyer fatigue tends to set in towards the end of the year.

Burke says that for many buyers, the holiday season represents a deadline, so interest in properties typically thins out as spring turns to summer.

“[Buyers] have four months to do the house shopping, so to speak … they like to go to the Christmas table and tell their friends and relatives, ‘guess what we did?’.

“They like to conclude the year on a positive note,” he says.

Check off the quick, impactful wins

There are numerous cost-effective measures sellers can take to enhance the appeal of a home. Here’s what Burke and Dias suggest:

• Repainting the facade or front porch;
• Cleaning windows and scrubbing street-facing areas;
• Decluttering to maximise internal floor space;
• Removing excessive photographs;
• Freshening up tired-looking floor coverings;
• Furnishing the home or opting for partial staging.

What can sellers expect from this spring selling season?

“We’ve got the platform for a strong spring selling season,” says Dr Nicola Powell, Domain’s chief of research and economics.

Powell says multiple factors could make 2025 a bumper year for sellers.

“With the rates being reduced, I think it’s going to be that nudge some buyers need to get back into the market.”

“With the expectation that we’re going to see more cuts coming through, that is also going to help sentiment,” she says.

The Labor government recently announced its plans to fast-track the expansion of the first-home buyer scheme, which Powell says will likely provide a further boost to the market.

“It was meant to be next year, it’s now October. Some Australians would have maybe been delaying their purchase because they were waiting for this scheme to come into place,” she says.

“It’s now going to be coming into market in our busiest season, in spring. That’s a whole other wave of buyers.”