When’s the best time to buy or sell a house in SLO County? Here’s one way to decide
In much of the United States, home sales and prices tend to follow seasonal changes.
The colder it gets, the more the market cools; the warmer the temperature, the higher home sales and home sale prices reach.
But not in the San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles metro area.
According to a report from Construction Coverage, the SLO metro area ranked fourth-lowest among U.S. small metros in the metric of seasonal median home sale price change.
Averaged across data from Redfin between 2015 and 2019, the SLO metro area experienced a 12% decrease from its winter season compared to the rest of the year, the report said.
Only Punta Gorda, Florida (12% decrease); Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, Washington (11.4% decrease); and Greeley, Colorado (10.6% decrease) metro areas saw less of a decrease during cold seasons.
The SLO-Paso number also ranked 153rd out of 188 U.S. metros of all sizes polled by the report.
SLO’s ranking on the list follows regional trends, as California and many other Sun Belt states experience some of the least change in temperature between winter and summer.
Conversely, northern Midwest and East Coast states experience some of the highest swings in temperature — and in home sales and prices, the report said.
The reason for this particular change in home sales and prices is reflected by sellers and buyers alike, the report said.
“Cold and wintry conditions can make it hazardous or simply undesirable for buyers to travel to tours, and sellers know that homes have more curb appeal when flowers are in bloom and lawns are lush,” the report said.
The COVID-19 pandemic had a unique effect on these prices, the report said, flattening out the winter decrease in 2020 and keeping home sales abnormally high in much of 2021 and 2022.
Meanwhile, metros like Detroit-Warren-Dearborn in Michigan and Cleveland-Elyria in Ohio saw the biggest swings in median home sale price, with prices falling by 24% in both cases.
This story was originally published August 25, 2022 at 12:15 PM.
