Every owner who misses the summer market faces this choice. The research on seasonality is consistent. The local conditions this fall are not typical, and a seller has to weigh both.
Do homes sell for more in spring?
Three large studies published this year agree that spring is the strongest season for sellers.
ATTOM, which analyzed 52 million sales from 2015 through 2025, measured how far each month’s sale prices ran above automated valuations. March was best, with a premium of 10.7 percent, followed by April and May at 10.2 percent and February and June at 10.0 percent. October was weakest at 7.9 percent, with September close behind at 8.0 percent.
Zillow found that homes listed in the last two weeks of May sold for 1.7 percent more nationally. In the New York metro area, the best window was the first two weeks of May, worth 1.8 percent, or about $13,200 on a typical home there. Realtor.com named April 12 through 18 as the best week nationally, and the week beginning March 15 as best in the Hartford metro area, with New York’s beginning March 22. Neither Zillow nor Realtor.com published a figure for the Bridgeport-Stamford metro, which includes Westport.
On national averages, then, waiting from October to March or April is worth a premium of roughly two to three percentage points over automated valuations. On a $2.4 million house, a gap that size would be tens of thousands of dollars.
See what a private, off-market sale of your home would look like →
What does Westport look like right now?
The national pattern assumes a normal supply of houses, and Westport does not have one. In August only 59 single-family houses were listed in town, down 35.9 percent from a year earlier, a 2.3-month supply. Through August the median sale price was up 5.9 percent, to $2,425,000. A seller who lists this fall faces far fewer competing listings than a year ago.
Buyers have a new problem, though. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 7.28 percent in the week of Oct. 1, the highest since November 2023, from 6.34 percent a year earlier. And the first September numbers look soft. William Pitt Sotheby’s preliminary count showed 16 single-family sales in the month, half last year’s figure, though early counts are often incomplete. Across Fairfield County, the September single-family median was $806,000, down 2.1 percent, on 516 closings, down 8.5 percent.
How do I choose?
List now if your house is ready, your price is realistic, and you would rather face fewer competing listings than more buyers. Inventory is scarce, and buyers looking this fall have little to choose from.
Wait for spring if the house needs work that would show in photographs, if you can use the winter to do it, or if your own purchase depends on spring inventory. Prepare over the winter and list early. Realtor.com’s metro data point to mid-to-late March and Zillow’s to early May, so have the house ready before the season opens.
Check your tax timing either way. The federal capital gains exclusion, up to $250,000 for a single filer and $500,000 for a married couple filing jointly, requires that you owned and lived in the house for at least two of the five years before the sale. If you are close to that line, the calendar may decide for you. Our guide to what a seller nets has the details.
To discuss timing for your own house, contact the Seller’s Desk.
Sources
- PR Newswire, ATTOM, ATTOM analysis finds spring remains the prime window for home sellers, April 30, 2026
- Zillow, Best time to list, homes sell for $6,000 more in late May, March 18, 2026
- PR Newswire, Realtor.com, April 12-18 is the best week to sell in 2026, March 18, 2026
- Riverside Realty Group, August market update, September 2026
- William Pitt Sotheby's, Westport market report, accessed Oct. 2026
- William Pitt Sotheby's, Fairfield County market report, accessed Oct. 2026
- Freddie Mac, Primary Mortgage Market Survey, Oct. 1, 2026
- IRS, Topic 701, sale of your home, Sept. 24, 2026
