The Effect of Relisting on House Selling Price

When house sellers reach the end of a listing contract without a sale they are faced with several decisions. A seller who wants to continue to market the property can leave it on the market, relist the property immediately, or take it off the market for a period of time before relisting it. Research has shown that properties with longer time-on-market may carry a stigma and sell for less. In an attempt to mitigate the negative perception of a house that other buyers appear to have passed by, a seller can have the agent relist the property so it appears as a new listing. If a seller decides to relist the property, the owner also has to decide how long to wait before relisting. We use a hedonic approach to investigate the choices sellers have when deciding whether to relist their property and the impact those decisions have on the property’s selling price. We find that relisting a property results in a higher selling price and that to maximize price, the seller should relist the property with the same agent within 30 days.