Spring always comes out on top as the best time to sell, but savvy homeowners should be thinking about marketing their home in January to beat the competition.

The start of the year is a time when most people are back at work after Christmas and will start to browse the web for inspiration on their next big move. Serious sellers will have their home online and marketed early to ensure they don’t miss this audience.

George Burnand from Strutt & Parker’s Winchester office explains: “Motivated sellers should be first to the post for the early spring market and January isn’t a moment too soon. Now the festive season is over, solicitors and estate agents are back at their desks and eager buyers who might have struggled to secure a deal at the end of last year are lying in wait. Marketing your home now could be a very canny move, especially when there is a lack of stock on the market to allow your property to really stand out.”

Launching a property now will mean beating the spring rush; traditionally a season when many choose to put their house onto the open market. Often waiting for those picture-perfect moments when the sun is out and blossom is on the trees can mean that sellers are missing out on potential buyers. Two early launches at Strutt & Parker are Westwood in Droxford at £1.25m and New Barn Farmhouse in St Mary Bourne at £1.3m.

Historically as the property market becomes saturated in the spring and summer dominated by high supply and high demand, this can mean you’re simply one of many houses for sale. Instead, by selling in a period of high demand but low supply, can mean that you are one of few, standing out from the crowd and with less risk of getting lost in a market overload later in the year.

George continues: “January is when people start to think about the year ahead, and looking back some of the best sales have taken place in the New Year, often in January, February or March.”

Another excitement for this January is a new property portal – Onthemarket.com goes live on 26 January. The website has signed up around 4,000 offices throughout the country and includes a large number of the agents in Winchester. It is a website designed purely to advertise property and will not be cluttered with additional advertising. “It is an exciting development and will certainly benefit the consumer” says George, concluding: “From this coming Monday Onthemarket.com will be the place to search for your new home!”