SEATTLE – April 23, 2019 – Nationwide, homes with open houses sell for $9,046 more and spend seven fewer days on the market than homes without open houses, according to a new report.
The analysis looked at home listed in 2018 and compared their relative selling success – measured by sale-to-list price ratios and time on market – of listing that scheduled an open house in their first week on the market compared to homes that never had an open house.
The benefits associated with open houses vary by metro, the study from Redfin found, and they likely have more to do with the desirability of the homes than the open house itself.
“Holding an open house is an efficient way for sellers to get more eyes on a home, and a bigger pool of potential buyers can help lead to a higher ultimate sale price,” says Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather. “In many areas, homes that are already primed for competition tend to be the ones with open houses because the listing agent knows it will attract a lot of attention and wants to set up a convenient way for multiple potential buyers to pop in at once instead of making several appointments for private tours.”
In the Miami area, open houses correlate with faster sales. A home in Miami with an open house during its first week on the market typically goes under contract within 27 days, compared with 38 days for those without an open house. And homes in the Miami area with an open house during week one sold for 1.2 percent more relative to their list price than homes with no open house.
“I usually list properties on a Thursday or Friday, then hold an open house on Saturday or Sunday,” says Jessica Johnson, a Realtor in Miami. “I also hold private showings because it’s so important to get as many potential buyers into the home as possible. When homebuyers see other people at an open house, it can motivate them to place an offer more quickly than they otherwise would. I had two listings go under contract last week after just one weekend on the market. In both cases, the buyers first saw the home at the open house.”
In Tampa – the only other Florida city cited in the study results – homes with an immediate open house (14 percent of listings) went under contract four days faster than those that did not. Those that had an open house sold for an average 97.8 percent of their list price; those without an open house sold for 97.2 percent of their list price.
In San Francisco, homes with an open house during week one sold for 7.9 percent more relative to their list price than homes with no open house, the biggest premium of any metro area in the U.S.
In nearby San Jose, homes with open houses sold for 5.2 percent more; and in Raleigh, North Carolina, homes with open houses sold for 4.6 percent more relative to their list price than those without.