Are you thinking of lowering your asking price?

As many as one in 10 selling within two weeks of listing after reducing asking price

Our latest research has revealed that while just a small percentage of stock entering the market is seeing an asking price reduction within two weeks of doing so, this immediate adjustment to price expectation is seeing as many as one in 10 sell across some areas of the market.?

House Buyer Bureau analysed the level of stock to have entered the market within the last two weeks, what percentage of this stock had already seen an asking price adjustment, as well how many sellers were immediately securing a buyer having dropped their price.?

When housing market conditions are tougher and slower than usual, one way for sellers to attract buyers is to reduce the asking price of their property.?

The research shows that across Britain, some 57,000 homes have reached the market for sale over the last two weeks. In that time, as many as 921 of these sellers had already reduced their asking price, equating to 1.6% of total listings.

However, in doing so, almost 5% of these price reduced properties had managed to secure a buyer almost immediately.?

This level of price reduced stock climbs to 2.2% of all listings in the East of England, with London (1.9%), the South East (1.8%) and East Midlands (1.7%) also seeing above average levels of stock reducing in price within just two weeks of entering the market.?

In the South East, this aggressive approach to attracting buyers is seeing one in 10 (9.8%) of all homes to have reduced their price within two weeks of listing also secure a buyer within the same time frame.?

In London, 7.9% of quick price drops lead to a sale, and in Scotland it’s 6.5%.?

However, an early price reduction is no guarantee of a quick sale as demonstrated by the North East, West Midlands, Yorkshire & Humber, and Wales where absolutely none of the homes to quickly reduce their price have gone on to find a buyer.

Managing Director of House Buyer Bureau, Chris Hodgkinson, commented:

“It may seem like an odd approach to selling to set an asking price and then drop it within weeks, sometimes days of listing your home on the market.?

However, we’ve seen the average house price in Britain decline each month since September of last year and so some sellers are attempting to minimise this hit by reducing their price upfront to secure a seller and sell their home quickly, before prices start to drop by a larger margin.?

It’s certainly one way to catch the eye of a buyer, but as our research shows, it’s a tactic that yields better results across the nation’s more inflated markets such as the South East and London where buyers are struggling with the highest costs when looking to purchase.