Study: February best time to buy home in Prov. metro

THOSE looking to buy a home in the Providence-Warwick-Fall River metropolitan area should wait until February to get the best deal, according to NerdWallet. / COURTESY NERDWALLET
THOSE looking to buy a home in the Providence-Warwick-Fall River metropolitan area should wait until February to get the best deal, according to NerdWallet. / COURTESY NERDWALLET

PROVIDENCE – Those looking to buy a home in the Providence-Warwick-Fall River metropolitan area should wait until February to get the best deal, according to NerdWallet.
The financial website paired with Realtor.com to identify the most affordable time of year to buy a home, both nationwide and in each of the 50 largest metros. They analyzed two years’ worth of data to come up with the findings.
The study found that prices drop nearly 10 percent in February in the Providence metro compared with the median summer price. The median house price drops to $216,500 in February, compared with $240,192 in summer. (The summer house price represents the two-year average of the median sales price.)
Rhode Island homebuyers who wait until winter to purchase could see an average savings of more than $23,000, according to the study.
The study also found that the national median sale price is 8.45 percent lower in the winter than the summer.
It said home sale prices – the amount a buyer actually pays – in the nation’s largest metro areas typically peak during the summer, dip in the fall and are lowest in winter.

“If your circumstances give you the freedom to be able to choose the best time to look to sign a contract on a new home, there’s no question that the market dynamics favor you the most to do that in the dead of winter, ideally in January or February, right before the activity starts to heat up,” Jonathan Smoke, chief economist for Realtor.com, said in a statement.

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