It should be no surprise that buying activity (contracts being signed) slows down over the Winter.  As shown above -- an average of 79 buyers sign contracts in January, which then increases a bit, to 90, in February, and then makes a much larger jump in March to an average of 133/month.

So, we're going to say the MARCH is when we first seem a big jump in buyer activity.  For that reason, many sellers wait until March (or even April) to put their homes on the market -- though the Spring market brings more competition from other sellers in addition to meaning that we'll start to see more buyers.

I have also read several articles (locally, regionally and nationally) talking about how this year the "Spring housing market" is taking off just after Christmas instead of in March like in past years.  Let's take a look...

Contracts Signed Between December 26 and January 8...