What days on market tells buyers, and how to talk to your seller
Days on market is the first number a buyer’s agent reads after the price, and past the local average it reads as “something is wrong”. The fix is rarely the number itself. It is a price or presentation change made early, while the listing is still fresh, and a seller who has seen the weekly numbers and is ready to make it. Relisting to reset the count fools fewer people than it used to, and most boards count the days cumulatively anyway.
Every listing has a clock on it, and everyone can see it. A buyer’s agent pulls up your listing, reads the price, then reads the days on market, and the second number changes how they talk about the first. Sellers know this too, which is why the third week of a quiet listing is when the phone calls get tense. The way through is to understand what the number means to each side, and to have the price conversation before the number has it for you.
What the number says to a buyer
In a market where homes sell in two weeks, a listing at day 30 reads as overpriced, or as having a problem the photos do not show. Buyers’ agents say so out loud: “It’s been sitting, we can come in under asking.” In a slower market the same day 30 is normal and nobody blinks. The number only means something against the average for that kind of home in that area, which is why you should know that average before you take the listing.
- •Under the average: the listing is fresh. Showings are driven by the launch, and offers come in at or near asking.
- •Around the average: the first wave of buyers has seen it and passed. New showings are buyers who just started looking. This is the window to change something.
- •Well past the average: the listing is stale. Buyers who passed are watching for a price change. New buyers are told it has been sitting. Offers, when they come, start low.
What the number does not say
Days on market is a count, and it does not know why. A home that was listed over the holidays, a tenanted property with hard showings, a unique home that needs a particular buyer and a condo in a building with a status certificate problem all accumulate days for different reasons. Your job is to know which reason applies to your listing, because the fix for each is different. A high count with lots of showings and no offers is a price problem. A high count with few showings is a photos, copy or exposure problem. A high count with showings that end in the first ten minutes is something in the house.
The relisting trap
Cancelling a listing and putting it back on to reset the count is the oldest trick in the file, and it works less every year. Most boards keep a cumulative days-on-market figure that carries across a relist within a set period, and buyers’ agents can see the listing history, including the old price. The public portals show history too. A relist with a real change behind it, a new price, new photos, a finished basement, is a fair fresh start. A relist with nothing changed tells the buyer’s agent you are hiding the number, and they will say so to their client. Check your own board’s rules on relisting before you plan one.
The conversation to have before you list
The days-on-market talk is easiest at the listing appointment, before there is a number. Tell the seller the average for their kind of home, the showings you expect in the first two weeks, and what you will each do if the showings come and the offers do not. Agree on a review date, two weeks in for most markets, and put it in writing. A seller who agreed to a review on day 14 takes a price conversation on day 14 much better than one who is hearing the word “reduce” for the first time.
The weekly conversation while it is listed
- •Send the numbers every week, on the same day: showings, feedback, online views and enquiries, and the days on market against the area average. Sellers who see the numbers every Monday do not panic on a Thursday.
- •Report feedback as it was said, in the agent’s words. “Three of five agents said the price is high for the street” is something a seller can act on. “People liked it” is not.
- •Name the next decision and its date. “If we have no offer by the 14th, we look at the price” keeps the decision about the plan, and off the seller’s mood that day.
- •When you recommend a price change, bring the comparables that sold since the listing went live. The market moved, and the price is catching up to it.
When to change the price, and by how much
Change it early, once, and enough to matter. A price improvement in week two or three lands while the listing still has attention. A series of small cuts every ten days teaches buyers to wait for the next one. The size should move the listing into a different set of search results: a price that crosses a round number buyers filter by, or that puts it under the comparable that sold last week. Then announce it properly: a price improvement is a reason to contact every agent who showed it and every buyer who enquired, and to re-run the social posts and emails.
Frequently asked questions
Does days on market reset when I relist?
On most boards the listing’s own count starts again, but a cumulative figure carries over if the property is relisted within the board’s set period, and the history stays visible to agents. Check your board’s current rules before relying on a reset.
Should I take the listing off over the holidays?
If the seller can wait, a listing that goes live in the first week of January often does better than one that sits through December accumulating days. If it stays on, tell the seller in advance that the count will grow and that the January buyers will not hold it against the home.
How do I explain a high day count to a buyer’s agent?
With the reason, briefly and honestly: the seller’s timing, a tenant, a unique home. Then with the facts that matter now: the showings, the recent price change, the comparables. An agent who gets a straight answer stops using the number as a lever.
What is a good review date?
Two weeks after launch in most markets, earlier in a fast one. The point is that the review was agreed in advance, so the price conversation is a scheduled step and not a reaction.
How Listing Launchpad handles days on market
Listing Launchpad was built to keep the listing moving through its lifecycle, and the days-on-market conversation is one it was designed to make routine.
- •The seller who hears nothing: the weekly seller report goes to your seller every Monday morning with the listing page’s visitors and the change from last week, new leads, open house sign-ins, the days on market and a one-line summary. A seller who reads it every week comes to the price conversation already knowing the numbers.
- •The review date that slips: the listing’s timeline carries its milestones and the listing agreement’s expiry, with a reminder a week out, three days out and on the day, so the dates you agreed with the seller are in front of you.
- •The announcement after a price change: when the price changes, the captions, emails and other pieces written before the change are marked so you know which to regenerate, and the price improvement copy is written from the listing.
The timeline and the listing’s copy are on every plan, Free included. The weekly seller report is on Pro and Studio, and in the 14-day Pro trial.
Robert Cekan is a REALTOR® in Hamilton, Ontario, the publisher of Urbanicity Hamilton, and the founder of Listing Launchpad. The playbooks here come from running real listings.