Local Market Update
What's happening to asking prices across South East London and North Kent
We wanted to share something worth knowing if you're thinking of selling this year, because the market has shifted in a way that makes a real difference to how you go about it.
There are more homes for sale around here than at any point since 2015. Nationally, asking prices fell by 0.6% in June, the biggest drop for that month in fourteen years, and close to a third of the homes on the market have already reduced their price. None of this points to a crash. But it does change one thing that matters a great deal: the price you choose to launch at now has more bearing on your result than almost anything else.
−0.6%
biggest June asking-price drop in 14 years
1 in 3
homes for sale have already cut their price
Since 2015
the most choice buyers have had
Let us explain what we mean.
When buyers have this much to choose from, they can afford to be selective and to take their time. That makes the familiar approach of pricing high and coming down later the most costly mistake a seller can make, because the first couple of weeks after you go live are the most important of the whole process.
Price sensibly and you tend to get your viewings and your strongest offers in that opening fortnight, while the listing is still fresh and buyers are seeing it for the first time. Price it 5% too high, though, and the buyers looking in those first two weeks decide it's over-priced and move on. That early interest is the strongest you'll get, and once it's gone the property just sits there. A few months on, most sellers end up dropping the price anyway, often to less than they'd have achieved on day one.
We had exactly this with a three-bedroom terraced house in Abbey Wood earlier this year. It launched at £475,000, which was more than the market was willing to pay, and it sat. We reduced it to £460,000 after two months, then to £450,000 a month later. It eventually sold for £420,000, completing this month. Once that early interest had gone, the asking price simply chased the market down, and the home sold for £55,000 below where it started.
And this is happening on our own doorstep, not just in the national headlines. More homes are coming to market right across South East London and North Kent, and more of them are being reduced. Your buyer has choices now, and the asking price is how you earn their attention.
Pricing a home accurately is simply how homes sell. More quickly, with less stress, and usually for more than the over-priced house down the road that's been on the market since Easter.
If you'd like to know what your home would genuinely sell for in today's market, we'd be glad to come round and give you an honest figure based on what's actually selling on your street. It takes around twenty minutes, and there's no obligation.
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