Amani Harding

According to a 2019 report from NAR,^Footnote1 not only are the winter sales doldrums less severe than many might have thought, but, depending on your part of the country, off-peak housing sales may be reasonably good.

Nationally, the best selling season is from May through August, with non-seasonally adjusted sales figures equal to 38.7% of a year's total sales.^Footnote2 At the opposite extreme, November through February still account for 27.5% of annual sales. This means that the coldest months across the country continue to represent a notable amount — 71.1% of the prime season's sales activity.

The wintertime blues can put you in the black

Let's take a look at the four best and four worst performing states, where, according to the bar graph, their off-peak sales represent a percentage of their peak sales season.^Footnote2

As you can see, all of the top four winter sales states are geographically in temperate regions, with their off-peak sales performances ranging from 77% to over 90% of their busiest months' sales. In contrast, the four states in which cold weather sales represent the smallest percentage of spring-summer sales are, not surprisingly, all located in the north, with Wisconsin's winter sales just 57.5% of summer sales.

The obvious conclusion here is that inclement winter weather does have an inhibiting effect on real estate sales.

With that said, it's important to not lose sight of the fact that even in Wisconsin, where winter sales are just a little more than half of warm weather sales, there's still a significant amount of sales activity to keep you busy.

Arizona's off-peak sales of 80.4% of its peak sales is an even better example. In this year-round balmy state, if you sell 5 houses per month during your peak season, you'll sell around 4 houses a month during the non-peak period. The upshot is that while you prepare for the approaching busy season don't miss out on the opportunities presenting themselves right now.