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Are sellers reducing asking prices?

ended 26. June 2023

Following last week's 0.5% Bank of England rate rise, taking the base rate to 5%, a journalist at the Financial Times has asked Newspage whether sellers have already been reducing asking prices, if buyer interest has dropped significantly, or whether valuers are already being more cautious on residential property valuations. If you've got any insights into this, or anecdotes, please send them across.

2 responses from the Newspage community

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Michael Bailey
Director at Michael Bailey Estate Agent
Asking prices have been steadily reducing since last year. The market has changed and some valuers and sellers have been over-optimistic with their asking prices and are now having to change these to get sold. That being said, I haven't seen a dramatic increase in asking price reductions since the base rate increase and perhaps somewhat ironically in May the percentage of asking price reductions in my area, while high compared to last year, was around 20% lower than the earlier part of the year. I would suggest the higher competition levels amongst sellers is also driving the increase in reductions. For example, in our area, there are now 40% more homes on the market, meaning buyers have more choices and sellers need to price competitively to stand out and get sold.
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Nick Harris
Co-founder at Quarters
Sellers fall into two camps currently by either pricing agressively (often at the behest of agents who see dwindling stock levels) or sensitively and it won't come as a surprise that the latter are agreeing sales. While there are fewer buyers in the market, those who are looking are serious and are organised with finance in place and a compelling reason to move. The market still has a pulse!