Sellers are chopping their asking prices by increasing amounts. The average price reduction is now £18,790, or 7.1%, off the original asking price, and over one-third of all properties for sale have been discounted at least once.
The information is from property portal Zoopla, which has a feature allowing users to search by discount.
This shows that 36.9% of all properties currently on the market in the UK have been discounted at least once. Although this is very slightly less than the 37.4% in February, the average discount is now £494 higher than in February, and £2,576 higher than last August, as sellers try to shift their properties.
Sellers in the North are generally having to reduce their prices by more and far more often than those in the South.
The highest asking price discounts are in Bolton where the average price reduction is 8.5%, followed closely by Rotherham (8.4%), Newcastle (8.2%), Huddersfield (8.2%) and Glasgow (8%).
In Doncaster, almost half (46.4%) of all properties on the market today have been reduced in price at least once from the original asking price.
Other areas of the country with the highest proportion of price-reduced properties include Wolverhampton (44.6%), Stockport (43.2%), Birmingham (42.8%) and Chelmsford (42.8%).
At the other end of the scale, properties in Croydon (5.7%) have the lowest average discount to the original asking price.
However, the story is quite different at the top end of the market for properties listed at £1m-plus where the average price reduction is at one of its lowest levels of the past 12 months, a sign that demand at the upper end of the market is strengthening.
A list of price reductions in 50 key British cities/towns can be found here: https://www.zoopla.co.uk/pricereduction
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Comments
Ric - this is exactly the point I have made before! Rightmove are the best - NO doubt about it - however Mr Shipside's comments regularly score own goals, and weaken the value of the service both to the Agents and their vendors.
A bit of a tangent I know...but connected to the whole pricing matter that is.....
RM!! any other agents feel as cheated as I do, when you turn on the morning TV and the first spoken headline you here is "Prices have risen...." (that bit is okay I was happy) but then followed promptly by however RM say "prices are unrealistically high"
So the people I pay money to every month to simply facilitate a buyer finding my stock are now commenting on its quality (not that mine are overpriced!) but you get my point....surely RM owe it to its paying clients to NOT comment on what they feel the stock quality os like, unless the plan to charge only when a property turns from Available to SSTC....(there a thought Miles?)
Its a bit like Auto Trader saying "dont buy cars"
Anyway, this has just added to the ambition I have to drop them.
Mike Wilson: Mate - you're digging yourself a hole here.
Firstly, don't assume 'Reg' is an Agent. IF he is, then from what I gather from what he writes, he is there by chance, not by ability, as his people skills are in negative equity. His 'shelf stacker' comment is a FAR greater sign of the insurmountable problems society is facing than the housing situation. I suppose refuse collectors are beneath you as well, are they, Reg? Lucky they are there - your garden smells a bit sweeter thanks to their labours - pity ithey cannot remove the foul odour of superciliousness from your persona...
Secondly, Mike, in your post you state "And, should people who stack shelves for a living not be able to afford to buy a house - after all it's life's most basic need" Come on - a roof is a luxury that MOST enjoy. It is certainly not THE MOST basic need. And OWNING the roof over your head is ABSOLUTELY NOT a basic need. If it were, then both coming from council estates, you and I would not have been here to debate this - would we?
Your emotions have run away with you on this one. You want your family to have what you have. Nothing wrong with that - so do I and thousands if not millions of others like us. Sadly, things are not as they were when we were younger. I doubt they ever will be again - but time will tell. One thing for sure - it ain't gonna happen because we argue the toss on here.
And talking of toss - you got any more snippets of cleverness you want to add, 'Reg' ?
@Reg
You're a fool. Most of the next generation is priced out of housing. And you'll finally realise this when transaction numbers go down and down and down - as more of the housing stock moves into the hands of investors who, once the rent is giving them a bit of profit and is paying off debt incurred to buy the asset - will hold on to them for generations. Clearly you are happy to see your industry decimated and for your children to be priced out of the housing market. For heaven's sake - I've seen programs on the box where young professional couples earnign good salaries cannot afford to buy - at 300 year low interest rates? Wake up and take an analytical look at what is happening around you.
And, should people who stack shelves for a living not be able to afford to buy a house - after all it's life's most basic need.
Got it Mike Wilson - total HPC so your underachieving, shelf stacking family get a roof over their head. Caves are good, tent?, he could move to where the work is, your 6 figure salary could mean you could get him a caravan, then you would be bleating on that they were too expensive!
@Wooden Top
What happens for the poor vendors who sold before the market went upwards! Should they not have the same grievance at the changing economy!
A written valuation based on facts starting with square meters and recent sales prices to asking prices should be mandatory for all estate agent listings. Issues that increase or down value should be listed. That would sort some of the cowboys out.
The TPOS could be made tougher if only everyone was in the scheme.
2. Market Appraisal
2a When you give advice to someone selling their property, any figure you advise – either as a recommended asking price or as a possible selling price - must be given in good faith and reflect current market conditions. You must never deliberately misrepresent the value of a property.
2b Any figure given must be supportable, wherever possible, with comparables of similar properties in a similar location.
I wonder how many vendors who lost money because they were deliberatley dupped by an over valuing agent, lost out even further on due to prices dropping further?
That'll be all that pent-up demand RnR.
Paul - not those who can't add. There aren't many posts from them though.
Does everyone have to type in 14?
Ric - here's a good article you might want to show to over-optimistic vendors. It's from the Adam Smith Institute economic think tank and called Time to let the housing bubble burst. They even mention the HPC site, so they must be right...
http://www.adamsmith.org/blog/tax-and-economy/time-to-let-the-housing-bubble-burst/
Hi Rant
The same as PDS then! with a spin!
Ric - latest home.co.uk release out today alas says asking prices increased again last month. The report was titled
Optimistic Sellers Push Prices to the Limit
Wardy - Yep totally agree, infact this week for me has been a very good one with vendors swapping from a local Countrywide Member, each at circa 5 % to10% less than thay had them on for. (we have put 4 on from this agent in one week alone and no HPC'ers they are not 20% over priced so the 5% to 10% will make the difference)
I do agree though with the whole get real theory.
PDS (Price Denial Syndrome) is sweeping the nation again - Perhaps if all else fails and I give up the world that is EA I will set up a rival site called PDS to battle with the HPC and EAT crowd as most of the time it is not the EA's as peoplpe think who are causing the problem it is the vendors suffering PDS who just will not come to the terms with reality.
Pee Bee - I can't let that inaccuracy stand. McDonalds over here is full of people from Poland, not Ukraine ; )
@Mike Wilson - Please go back to doing something in an industry you may know something about
Ric, don’t get me wrong. I do not advocated bottom end vals either.
I quite like the 'withdrawal fee' idea, especially if the price is too outlandish.
I like my greedy vendors the second time round when they are more realistic and loads more motivated. Usually after they have seen what the arse end of a corporate joke is.
rantnrave: "Another random observation - during a trip to Ukraine, I was told that entry level positions in the McDonalds there were only open to graduates..."
Same as the UK, then... ;o)
Pee Bee - wasn't Mike Smith a Radio One DJ back in years gone by?
Veering further off-topic, on the subject of education, the UK's younger generation are damned if they do study and damned if they don't. Going overseas, they'll find their employment opportunities are vastly reduced if they don't have a degree. This country is one of very few where experience is regarded by employers at the same level or greater than academic achievement. Not having a degree would immediately disqualify many from even getting visas to work overseas. I've just broken the news to a friend who had planned to go to Japan to teach English and be with his Japanese fiance that he wont get a working visa because he hasn't been to university.
Another random observation - during a trip to Ukraine, I was told that entry level positions in the McDonalds there were only open to graduates, who in turn considered themselves very fortunate to get a position in a Western firm that had such good opportunities!
Hi Wardy
"I would be interested to know: Those agents that are rolling over price wise. Are they still putting the correct vals in writing before being instructed to sell at a higher price or are they simply agreeing from the outset?
Busy day so only just got chance to catch up on this post which was always going to be a funny one! In answer to your question from my dealings!
I rarely roll over and often try and hit a compromise on "what they want" and "what they are likely to get" On the very odd occassion I get a bit okay go on then I will give it ago I always confirm the valuation opinion I have in writing reglardless of how much lower! Much easier to re confirm reductions are needed when they get no interest and usually write a withdrawal fee in the contract if I can for our efforts in trying to acheive their goal.
Oddly though and in contrast to some posts here! Many of the give it a go prices are selling and for marginally more than the lowest valuations received, so whilst I understand the logic of get yourself at the bottom of the slide to make sure you sell, some EA's could be in danger of costing their clients money! if they are too low.
Apologies, Mike WILSON!
Who the H3ll is Mike SMITH??
Like I said, Maybe the guy was right...
@Brian
"Mike Wilson, if your kids can't afford to live here, or you have not done well enough to help them, tell them to emigrate, simples"
The point is that young people would be doing well enough to afford a home if they weren't being crippled by debt incurred by, and unfinanced benefits accruing to, the older generation, and if politicians didn't use public finances (and inflate the national debt) to prop up the housing market and do things like - oooo - puchase hundreds of billions of pounds of asset-backed securities from banks.
It is not that we want a hand-out, it's that we want a level playing field, where we're not paying twice over, once through reduced services and increased taxes and debt (e.g. 30k debt at university whilst the older generation had it free plus grants), and secondly through increased asset prices created by poor public policy which we in turn will have to repay. Rather than leave the country, I think that as citizens and taxpayers, people should have the right to raise their hands and actually fight to change some of the above.
@rantnrave
I like the ship analogy. Instead of listing to one side I think I prefer a Titanic analogy.
"Quick Rose! Get to the back of the ship" - the younger generation in steerage make it to the back of the ship and some survive - the agents in the first class lounge are turned on by the crew and locked in!
@PeeBee
One swallow does not a summer make.
Funnily enough my eldest was a trainee manager with a big supermarket chain for a while. He got the job because he used to work in there when he was a student - stacking shelves and on the checkouts. He packed it in because he found it soul destroying and couldn't see himself doing it long term. He's now moved into construction and is doing a degree part time - purely because EVERY decent job in construction - doing any job that is not on the tools - now demands qualifications.
If he was on the outside and wanted to apply for a job as a trainee manager - I bet a degree will be asked for.
A few years ago there was a documentary on the box following the process of half a dozen graduates applying to be a store manager for Toys'R'Us. What an eye-opener that was - the store manager was about 25 in a horrible windowless office with just a desk, chair and a filing cabinet. What's his remit? Keep the shelves full and manage a few staff. He worked bloody awful hours and was expected to be in at 6.00 am to unload lorries with a forklift! And a good degree was being asked for and a really long winded interview process where they had to do role play and all sorts.
By the time I was 21 I had learnt how to use a theodolite and a level and do land surveying and setting out on building sites. I had no qualifications - having jacked in my training - but, freelancing, I earnt 2.5 times what my dad was earning in a research laboratory. Nowadays I wouldn't even be allowed on a site.
The house price inflation ship is starting to list to one side. I expect there'll be a few squeals as she finally goes under.
@Brian
What a pompous comment. If I don't make enough to help out my kids ... what nonsense! I'm not talking about MY kids - I'm talking about a whole generation.
Wake up and look at what your debt obsessed industry has done to the economy ... "our mortgage advisor will be able to get you more than that" ... said the spider to the fly.
I earn 6 figures - but by the time the government has relieved me of a big chunk of it - I don't have enough left for an extravagant lifestyle by any means. How people on average wages get by is beyond me - especially young people facing crippling housing costs.
Mike Smith: "... a pretty crappy jobs outlook if they don't get decent qualifications..." Mike - as I said to you only a few days ago my two decided to go the non-uni route.
One is currently a Trainee Manager with one of the country's largest supermarket chains, the other is an assistant manager with a company that offers care for adults with special needs.
Rolling their sleeves up has got them where they are. They also show Graduates on a daily basis how to wipe their noses; how to get the job done; and how to interact with other humans - as uni did not, unfortunately, instill such skills into this particular breed.
At my first ever interview in 1978, a prospective employer told me that unless I got a Degree I would never succeed. I have spent the last 33 years working in the property industry without a single day's break - and the last 20-odd of them in Senior Management positions.
Maybe he was right...
Mike Wilson, if your kids can't afford to live here, or you have not done well enough to help them, tell them to emigrate, simples, done the Meerkats no harm, look at the insurance biz they have created. But stop drivelling about house prices, tad repetitive old chap.
@ Mike Wilson, splendid summary.
I'm at the very youngest end of what people call "baby boomers" and back then it was a doddle, especially if you bought a house in e.g. the 1990s, you could pay off your mortgage in ten years and it was still cheaper than renting.
Oh how ironic. The portal heavily backed by the likes of countrywide has brought out figures on price reductions.
Me? I'd rather keep my integrity than purposely over value but to me that’s not the real issue. The issue is yet another website using made up figures, linking them to some part of the market in a bid for a cheap press release. Every agent worth his salt knows how inaccurate zoopla vals are, why should this be any different?
For the record it is possible to be upbeat and enthusiastic about selling someone’s home whilst maintaining some professionalism with regard to their valuation.
I would be interested to know: Those agents that are rolling over price wise. Are they still putting the correct vals in writing before being instructed to sell at a higher price or are they simply agreeing from the outset?
@Ray Evans
You said:
"Whatever your personal situation regarding your kids not everything revolves around making it easy for the younger generation, my generation found it just as difficult."
I find that hard to believe. Today's youth face paying for university education - a pretty crappy jobs outlook if they don't get decent qualifications - ludicrously high housing costs (renting or buying) - high taxes for the rest of their lives to pay off the £1 trillion debt we have taken on which they will pay back - disappearance of company pension schemes - inability to put a roof over their heads let alone save for the future .... I had it a hell of a lot easier.
And you said:
"My main point was to say don't lets make it worse by continually repeating."
And my main point is that unless people acknowledge that the house price boom (from which agents and banks made so much money) has, in fact, been a complete disaster leading to a banking crisis we'll be paying for for 50 years - nothing is going to change. Your industry is sitting there praying that the banks will start lending 100% mortgages at 8 x salary multiples again - and to hell with the risks a younger generation would take taking on that sort of debt.
We need to change the culture of this country into one that depends on business growth for wealth creation - not endless debt growth to create 'equity'. That sort of wealth is illusory when the lending dries up.
We need people to borrow less to spend on housing so they have more money to spend on other things - creating demand and jobs in the economy.
This endess debt creation and locking up of money in the housing market is, literally, insane.
@ Ric
Cheers!
Geoge, agree, your right the zoopla prices are a little high if anything.
ZOOPLA ESTIMATES ARE NOTHING BUT A JOKE....
And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
Rantnrave, i hear what you say, the agents price it, and the banks drive by to see it exists, banks do need to value propertys correctly, the whole industry needs reassesing, zoopla are right with what property are selling for in sussex.
Someone on this column mentioned Zoopla price estimates. Just had a butchers at my old street where we sold up in 2008, we had take a 15% haircut on 2007 prices in order to actualy sell. Just checking around and see flats/houses again for sale that have been on and off the market for the 2.5 years since and still not sold but hoping for that 'peak' 2007 price.
The problem is, zoopla, has upped their estimate on what these properties should sell for even though they have not sold over the last 2 years at a lower asking price than zoopla
ps this was in an outer NW suburb of London where prices are supposed to be going up. Seems the agencies are terrified of telling the punters 'how it is' and they all have their front windows full of stale unsellable property, or perhaps have the odd lucky sale to keep them afloat.
After years in the industry, there is one thing that seems to be more consistent than ever I'm afraid.
That is the poor quality of advice from EA's
In the boom the theory went " I wonder how I have to go with the AP in order to secure the listing" and now in a falling market the majority of EA's I come across are using the same formula - utter madness and it undermines the hard work and honesty of those of us who try to be truthful with values......
Corporates with listing target, wideboys and cowards should pack in and sell something else please
John Smith - Errr, I think the banks irresponsible lending practices played a greater role in inflating the bubble.
We can't have EAs thinking they are more important and influential than they are ; )
O my god, i know turkeys would not vote for christmas, but guys christmas is coming earlier this year, if you guys didnt pump the market up and kept it in line with average wages the house price correction would not have to happen, corrections happen every 15 years through gread ! and the past 15 years have been very greedy, LOL ! what is needed is estate agents to have to be qualifed to take some proper guide lines so this can not happen again,
@Bucks the trend..
Good luck with coming off RM, genuinely hope it works out for you and hopefully you will really start a trend.
Touched a nerve there didn't I?
@Tweedy - If you are one of the young ones, with your attitude and rudeness, I hope not.
@Mike Wilson - Obviously there is doom & gloom. There are problems for everyone. Whatever your personal situation regarding your kids not everything revolves around making it easy for the younger generation, my generation found it just as difficult.
My main point was to say don't lets make it worse by continually repeating.
@Ray Evans
You said:
"I am as well aware as the next person of the current market situation. However, quite a few HPCers are in danger of talking themselves and others out of a job. Be as positive as possible and stop actually repeat publicizing all the doom and gloom - we all know what it is like out there."
What doom and gloom. We've had a 10 year house price boom which has made debt slaves out of a generation (that managed to buy into it). How many people have now got huge mortgages at the lowest interest rates for hundreds of years. And, of course, the next generation is priced out and we'll all be paying tax for the next 5yers to repay the debts taken on to bail out the banks and keep our public sector afloat.
But now, at last, some sanity is returning to the housing market. For the next generation the sun is about to break through the clouds. Happy days for them.
My house price is going down - my kids' prospects are improving by the day. What's to be gloomy about?
@ Ray Evans
As you say, everybody is aware of the current market situation. A false, overly-positive, blinkered demeanor can just come across as sleazy and wide-boyesque.
Maybe time to let the young uns take over?
After over 35 years in the business of running of my own estate & letting agency (some may say I am 'past it!)
I am as well aware as the next person of the current market situation. However, quite a few HPCers are in danger of talking themselves and others out of a job. Be as positive as possible and stop actually repeat publicizing all the doom and gloom - we all know what it is like out there.
Will Hicks: "If I was a vendor right now, I'd be looking for an agent to give me an honest valuation [and good service] so I could shift my property ASAP. It's quite easy to spot who these are at the moment, as they're the ones shifting stuff inside a month, rather than having over-priced stock that's been on the market for 2 months plus. I guess it really does depend if the vendor REALLY does want to sell, or would prefer their property to stick out like a saw thumb..."
Couldn't agree more. THERE'S a surprise, huh? ;o)
(well... maybe a month is a bit quick - but certainly under three would be a good result in today's market. Any less and I would argue you could have possibly asked a tad more...
OH COME ON - you didn't expect COMPLETE submission, did you??)
Zooplas estimates are still wildly inaccurate
Check out Rightmove's latest TV ad - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HAR9gFebuM
about right!
Ray,
The zoopla AVM pricing is summarised here
http://www.zoopla.co.uk/property/estimate/about/
As with all computer models, it will suffer from GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out), but IMO it's pretty accurate [compared to the 10-20% add on brigade] with it's valuation band.
Being upbeat and positive is not the same as being a liar.
Where were you trained!
@Clever Trevor......is not so clever - rather stupid really!
@Anonymous Coward.......a good post!
I opens up a question. How do Zoopla collate their information. If most of their agents over price by HUGE amounts to obtain an instruction over the competition then after a few weeks the agent reduces the asking price what does that mean? Does it mean that the price will now be the so-called right price, which may be really not much of a reduction, IF ANY, on what should have been asked in the first place. As I have said before all these average 'statstic things' need qualification and explanation........ ;0)
I don't see how we can blame the vendors. They think their property is worth £X because we (maybe not personally but somebody from the profession) tells them that it is. To do this and then moan about a lack of business is totally crazy.
Do any agents here hand on heart ask the right questions to Mr?Mrs Vendor at the point of booking the Appraisal?
As this is going set you up a whole lot better before walking through that door, already knowing that Mr Vendor is a greedy vendor and knowing how to educate them on how you will get them the best price and something that they will be happy with.
Im not saying we never take a property on at a vendors own price, as long as it is realtivly close to our own appraisal (we would never take something that I would consider ridiculous). On every property we take on, we take an upfront marketing fee from all our vendors which ensure that we deal with a lot of serious sellers.
Im Not preaching that we are perfect, I have three offices, number 4 soon to open, I would consider that we are only leaders in one town, The top agent which also operates in all our same locations, work very much on a pile it high, value high system and see what sticks.
I have to laugh when I see what some of the houses come on for, but they do sign people up for 16 weeks, which is a long time to wear people down.
Be on your guard if you gave RM the boot. They are known to ignore (You haven't heard anyhting have you!) and denie your withdrawal and we know where that leads ........ been there.
It used to be called the 10% rule. Very common training in coporate estate agency (and others). You the professional and honest agent price condition the vendor to what they don't want to hear. The other agents adds 10% knowing the vendor will be greedy (thankfully not all, but most?). They get the instruction and after the offers come in at the other agents price, well the vendotr was warned that was the correct price and so throws in the towel and they get the fee and not uncommon to be based on the asking price to boot it in further!
You'll never stop it. If you know the answer tell all.
@ Bucks the trend
But surely that was my whole point.
Agents that were happy to charge 1/2 percent for a crap service would do anything in a good market to get instructed.
You expect them suddenly to completely change their nature & character to become super honest, super nice, super decent chaps ready to give their customers a 2% service.
All they know is how to do it the wrong way, super salesman style.
Some will survive, some will close, but in the meantime what are the rest of us to do?
Me, I just watch them waste money marketing properties that will never sell (unless I call them and remind them what the 'right' price is).
@ not so clever trevor
Yes, and so the cycle continues....durrr
Unfortunately Trevor, Anonymous Coward is actually spot on. His experiences are mirrored across the country.
Vendors do NOT want to be educated, they want to know 3 things:-
1) How much will I get
2) How much will it cost me in fees
3) How long will it take to sell.
To try to educate them on this tough market is asking for a bruising as they will just feel you are being negative and give their "business" to the 1st agent being upbeat and positive (liars in other words).
No real answer but to just plug on and if you lose an instruction to an agent quoting sill prices just diarise to call in a month and then a further month once they have failed to sell and maybe more receptive.
@ Clever Trevor
Quite. And it's the same 'cowards' who constantly moan about being shafted by RM, yet never take action.
Grow some balls, or clear out.....
Dear Anonymous Coward
Note to self - check your spelling before typing 14 and clicking submit.
Thanks in advance
AC
Dear Trevor
Not to self - read a post before replying to it.
Thanks in advance
Trevor
@Anonymous Coward
The reason people have no respect for EA's is because of those who act like you.
What other "profession" would give their professional advice before backtracking and telling the client what they want to hear?
Structural Engineer: In order to remove that wall you will need a steel beam, a post and a new foundation.
Client: Oh, sounds expensive, we'd rather use paper, string and some prit stick.
Structural Engineer: Fair enough, you're the boss, when do we start?
Aaaaarrrrrgh!
Yes estate agents don't help the situation - we ALL know that.
But unrealistic vendors are the real problem - they no prices are going down (BUT not in my road...)
REGARDLESS of the asking price you tell an owner if you admit the market is rubbish and not many houses are selling and QUALITY viewings are few and far between YOU WILL NOT GET INSTRUCTED.
That is because they have no respect for our profession.
So, what happens is you go in, tell the owner what they want to hear and cross your fingers - we have absolutely no choice
I have tried to do it properly all year, politely of course, but you can precis it to:
Me: "Mr & Mrs Vendor do you want me to be honest with you?"
Vendor: "Yes please, do be 100% honest with us - we really need to know."
Me: "Well, if you are sure... Blah, blah, blah, fee, value, asking price"
Vendor: "Thank you very much - of course you are right we know the market conditions are poor - that seems very sensible. We'll call you in a couple of days."
A couple of days go by...
Me: "Hi there, when can I come and take photos?"
Vendor: "Oh, yes, well we have instructed another agent because they said a higher asking price..." .
The only consolation is that at least I haven't lost money by working on a no-hoper.
The one piece of advice that I can give any agents out there who find themselves in the same situation - do not call the owners for at least 8 weeks, because all you do is remind them of your lower price and if the other agent has had a low offer (and is any good) will then go on to tie it up at your price.
Aaaaarrrrrgh!
The last two house price survey releases have shown monthly falls of greater than 1% and annual falls gathering speed. There is little way this can be spun as anything else but significant declines. Will this combined 'double-punch' be enough to make over optimistic vendors smell the coffee?
@ Will Hicks
Couldn't agree with you more. My relatively young business has suffered terribly so far this year as a result of irresponsible agents in the locale - even some of the 'big' names are at it. In fact, the actions of these so-called 'professionals' has caused the market here to practically grind to a halt. There is something fundamentally wrong with an Estate Agent if their website lists 50+ properties, yet less than 10% of the stock is under offer.
I'm here to SELL property, not just advertise it.
P.S - i gave notice to Rightmove yesterday - not a word of thanks for spending circa 10k with them over the last 18 months, and no attempt to persuade me to change my mind. What a sad reflection of their customer service.
I suspect there'll be an increase in the collective smelling of coffee in the coming peak selling weeks. If I was a vendor right now, I'd be looking for an agent to give me an honest valuation [and good service] so I could shift my property ASAP. It's quite easy to spot who these are at the moment, as they're the ones shifting stuff inside a month, rather than having over-priced stock that's been on the market for 2 months plus. I guess it really does depend if the vendor REALLY does want to sell, or would prefer their property to stick out like a saw thumb in a falling market [which looks set to continue for the next 2-5 years].
I'm sorry if that's not what the "price it high" brigade that surf here want to hear, but it's not a bear market any more where you can just add 10-20k onto the last sold comparable. Needless to say, I'll expect the usual playground insults to follow, as an easy alternative to accepting reality.
oh well if zoopla says ....
So is this the expert agent getting his message through or is the vendor throwing in the towel, all on his own?
Yorkshire - yep you spot on mate, I'm listing ok but vendors and other agents are barking mad with prices - which is pushing us small agents out of business. Incidently its not just the corporates at it - the small indies are just as guilty.
I would say 75% of properties coming onto the market are too high, and yes vendors are egged on by EA's, typically vendors get 4 vals lets say 195k, 200k, 215k and 225k, typically a vendor will say the 225 was too high and want to list at 215. The 215 is still too high and we all know it is a sub 200k property. This house will still sell but only after about 6-12 months of marketing following price reductions. (incidently it may well sell for far less as the market will have further dropped in those 6-12 months) The 2 accurate agents will not get the business, so next valuation they go out with a 'can't beat 'em join 'em attitude.
Of course many are having to cut prices. Egged on by EA's desperate for an instruction many vendors were flattered with ridiculous marketing prices. Everybody can see this and while prices are falling it makes sense for potential buyers to save and wait for reality to bite.