stagingmate
Research/Housing reporters

Sellers start searching 9 weeks before buyers do

Searches like "sell my house" and "what is my home worth" climb halfway to their yearly high by the week of Apr 9. Buyer searches don't get there until the week of Jun 11. Seller interest peaks the week of Apr 23, 11 weeks before buyers peak (Jul 9).

US + 50 states208 weeksSeller vs buyer queries
Stagingmate Research
Published 2026-10-09
Method

For each query set, each week's share of the year's search, averaged over 4 years and smoothed over 3 weeks. Halfway week = the first week the curve climbs halfway from its January level to its peak. Lead = buyer week minus seller week. Each series was pulled twice and averaged because Google Trends samples its data.

Sources
Google Trends search interest, web search, weekly
Limits

Seller queries have far less volume than buyer queries, so state-level seller curves are noisy; the national figures are the reliable headline. Search timing shows intent, not when homes are actually listed.

Key findings

01US seller search reaches halfway to its peak the week of Apr 9, 9 weeks before buyer search (Jun 11).
02Seller search peaks the week of Apr 23; buyer search peaks the week of Jul 9, 11 weeks later.
03In 22 of 32 states with usable data, seller search climbs first; the median lead is 5 weeks.
04The biggest seller head starts: New York (22 weeks), Oklahoma (21 weeks) and Colorado (18 weeks).
9 wks

how far US seller search runs ahead of buyer search on the way up.

Apr 23

the week US seller search peaks (2022–2025 average).

22/32

states where seller search climbs before buyer search.

How far sellers run ahead of buyers, by state

Weeks between seller and buyer search reaching halfway to their yearly peak (positive = sellers first), 2022–2025. 32 states with usable seller data. State figures are noisy; read them as a rough guide.

SD9
WV11
MT5
OK21
CT2
CO18
MI10
WI-5
CA15
GA5
KY4
OH3
TN13
PA-2
WA3
TX9
IL-1
NC6
VA9
AZ18
MO5
KS5
NH-16
NY22
UT-2
MA9
LA-7
NJ8
MD-5
FL-9
ME-28
VT-28
-28
22

All 32 states

Click a column to sort
New York22Jan 15Jun 18Aug 6Jul 2
Oklahoma21Jan 29Jun 25Feb 19Jul 9
Colorado18Feb 19Jun 25Mar 19Jul 9
Arizona18Feb 26Jul 2Jul 16Jul 9
California15Mar 12Jun 25Apr 23Jul 9
Tennessee13Feb 19May 21May 7Jul 2
West Virginia11Jan 1Mar 19Jan 1Jun 25
Michigan10Mar 5May 14Mar 26Jul 2
South Dakota9Jan 1Mar 5Jan 1Jul 9
Texas9Apr 2Jun 4Jun 18Jul 2
Virginia9Apr 16Jun 18Jul 9Jul 9
Massachusetts9Feb 12Apr 16Aug 20Jul 9
New Jersey8Apr 23Jun 18Aug 27Jul 9
North Carolina6Apr 23Jun 4Jul 2Jul 9
Montana5Feb 5Mar 12Feb 5Jun 25
Georgia5Apr 23May 28Apr 30Jul 9
Missouri5Feb 5Mar 12Jul 30Jul 9
Kansas5Feb 12Mar 19Jul 30Jun 25
Kentucky4Apr 23May 21Apr 30Jul 9
Ohio3Feb 19Mar 12Apr 30Jul 9
Washington3Mar 5Mar 26Jun 18Jul 9
Connecticut2Feb 26Mar 12Mar 5Jul 2
Illinois-1Mar 26Mar 19Jul 2Jul 9
Pennsylvania-2Apr 30Apr 16Jun 11Jul 9
Utah-2Mar 26Mar 12Aug 13Jul 9
Wisconsin-5Apr 16Mar 12Apr 16Jul 9
Maryland-5Apr 16Mar 12Sep 3Jul 9
Louisiana-7Jul 9May 21Aug 20Jul 2
Florida-9Apr 16Feb 12Apr 30Feb 12
New Hampshire-16Aug 6Apr 16Aug 20Jul 16
Maine-28Oct 22Apr 9Oct 22Jul 16
Vermont-28Oct 1Mar 19Oct 1Jun 11

Two calendars, one market

9 weeks

the head start seller searching has on buyer searching each spring.

US seller search by month, average weekly share of the year (2022–2025)

Jan
1.78%
Feb
1.84%
Mar
1.93%
Apr
2.09%
May
1.97%
Jun
2.08%
Jul
2.15%
Aug
2.11%
Sep
1.98%
Oct
1.79%
Nov
1.67%
Dec
1.65%
Source: Google Trends; Stagingmate analysisstagingmate

US buyer search by month, average weekly share of the year (2022–2025)

Jan
1.95%
Feb
2.02%
Mar
2.05%
Apr
2.02%
May
2.03%
Jun
2.14%
Jul
2.19%
Aug
2.02%
Sep
1.82%
Oct
1.69%
Nov
1.54%
Dec
1.56%
Source: Google Trends; Stagingmate analysisstagingmate

Sellers start researching values and selling options in early spring. Buyer searching keeps building into summer. The weeks in between are when listings are prepared, photographed and launched.

What this means for agents

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Cite this study

Stagingmate Research (2026). Sellers start searching 9 weeks before buyers do. https://stagingmate.com/research/when-sellers-start-looking-the-seller-intent-calendar

Use our data

Free to use under CC BY 4.0 with a link to this page. For the full dataset or a local cut, email press@stagingmate.com.

About this study

Seller searches climb from early spring and reach halfway to their peak the week of Apr 9 nationally.

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