What’s the Best Day to List a Home?

As a real estate professional, more likely than not this question has entered your mind at least a time or two: What’s the best day to list a home?

Until now, it was conventional wisdom that Friday was the best day to list a home. However, according to new research from Terrace 24 Realty, a real estate service based in Atlanta, Ga., a better day has risen to the top, and that day is Thursday.

“Currently, more agents are listing homes on Friday than any other day of the week, but homes listed on Thursday sell faster and for higher prices,” says Mike Minihan, managing broker of Terrace 24.

Terrace 24 focused its research on the Atlanta area, its pilot market, and looked at sales in six metro Atlanta counties from Sept. 2014 through Sept. 2015. Here are their results:

• Of the homes that sold without a price reduction, the homes that listed on Thursday sold for the fewest days on market at a median of 19 days. Homes listed on Sunday were on the market the longest.
• Again, of the homes that sold without a price reduction, the median percentage of the list price that the Thursday sellers got was 97.78 percent. That is higher than any other day of the week.
• Homes listed on Thursday were more likely to receive an offer of more than 100 percent, suggesting there was a bidding war.

“At Terrace 24, we believe the real estate industry is ripe for change,” Minihan says. “Agents are doing the same things they have always done, including listing homes for sale on Fridays, without really thinking about what makes sense in today’s world.”