Investors’ bargains to be found as sellers slash asking prices

Research by online agency Yopa has revealed that homes listed for sale within the last 30 days have been reducing in price at a rate of 137 properties per day.

The agency analysed the number of homes listed for sale over the last 30 days across the property market in England on Zoopla and how many of these newly listed homes have already resorted to an asking price reduction in order to secure a buyer. 

The research shows that of the 72,452 homes have been listed for sale across England over the last 30 days, with six per cent of these properties already seeing a price reduction. This equates to over 4,000 homes, meaning that sellers have been reducing their asking price at a rate of 137 properties a day. 

These asking price reductions have been most prevalent across the more inflated regions of the market, with both the South East (936) and London (821) seeing seven per cent of homes listed in the last 30 days reducing in price.

This means that across both regions, homes have been reducing in value at a respective rate of 31 properties and 27 properties a day. 

Of the 4,109 homes to have seen a price reduction across England within 30 days of entering the market for sale, just 191 are already sold subject to contract or under offer - meaning buyer demand sits at just 4.6 per cent for homes that are dropping in price right off the bat. 

The agency chief executive Verona Frankish says: “It’s a challenging landscape for sellers at present. Higher mortgage rates have caused buyer numbers to dwindle and this has very much transferred the balance of power from seller to buyer. The good news is that property values have remained largely unchanged despite wider economic turbulence and so those who are able to secure a buyer are still securing a great price for their property. 

“The real issue is the time it’s taking to find a buyer in the first place and this is the driving factor causing many sellers to drop their asking price expectations in an attempt to secure a quicker sale. However, as our research shows, this isn’t necessarily the key to success and less than five percent of sellers who reduce their price within the first 30 days of entering the market are actually finding a buyer.”